Calgary's 'lost' neighbourhoods - David Parker

Moderator: newsposter

Calgary's 'lost' neighbourhoods - David Parker

Postby newsposter » Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:21 pm

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/new ... 51c0888e45

1950s map shows the Bronx still a desirable area in Calgary

David Parker
Calgary Herald

Saturday, March 17, 2007

How would you like to live in the Bronx? If you live in the Calgary area called University Heights, then that's exactly where you reside, according to a city map I've been poring over.

Drawn by cartographer Bailey Fergie and published by Calgary Drafting Co., it was published as recently as 1950, yet it's hard to recognize the city as it was then, particularly with the district names that were planned.

It's a wonderful piece of art printed on a roll of linen about a metre wide that's pulled down window blind style by a tassel.

The rapid growth of Calgary is emphasized by the location of the city's boundaries. Newcomers may not be able to picture Calgary before Forest Lawn and Bowness were included, but the map was published when the Calgary Golf and Country Club was outside city limits.

Neither the University of Calgary nor Mount Royal College are shown, nor any sign of an airport. And it's interesting to note that only three bridges -- Centre Street, Langevin and the Louise -- spanned the Bow River, while the area we now call Shaw Millennium Park was home to our football team. SAIT Polytechnic is drawn as Institute of Technology and Art (#2 Wireless School).

There were also two oil refineries within city limits. Imperial Oil was east of the Calf Robe Bridge, and the British American Oil Refinery was west of the bird sanctuary in Inglewood. I knew about those, but I was surprised to see two other refineries run by Bell Oil and Lion Oil just south of the former city limits at 58th Avenue and 1st Street S.E., pretty close to where the Chinook LRT station is today.

But it's the names of the communities that I was most interested in reading. The Bronx is really listed and also appears in that location on a 1926 map I checked out in Aquila Books.

A number of the neighbourhood names remain today, but several are in different locales. Before Blackfoot Trail was built, the area we call Highfield extended north to Hampstead and south to Connaught -- a long way from the Beltline where is it today.

The biggest shock was finding Lakeview subdivision surrounding a huge body of water at 33rd Ave N.E., which I expect is McCall Lake, but it was at the opposite end of the city where we find Lakeview now.

The Calgary Herald was listed in McDonald's Estate and north of it is Morris Place, and there are many other names on the map that never made it to reality. Gone forever, I expect, are Ree Heights, Sunderland, Hill Division, Ingledale and Bennett Estate.

A couple of others that struck my fancy are Highbury and New Edinburgh.

As near as I can determine, Highbury (that must have been the dream of an Arsenal Football Club supporter) was to be between 14th Street and 9th Street N.W., north of 25th Avenue, which now includes part of Confederation Park. It's still among the more desirable parts of the city with its proximity to downtown, yet is a very pretty and quiet area encompassing much of Rosemont and part of Mount Pleasant districts.

There are a good number of homes for sale in the popular, and therefore expensive, community of Mount Pleasant where a 1930s, 725-square-foot bungalow will set you back $379,900. But few are on the market today in the other districts around Confederation Park.

I did find a couple of current listings in Rosemont that rightly brag about being close to what I think is one of our nicest walkways any time of the year.

The map was published in 1950, so I'm not sure if a 1958 three-bedroom bungalow was at the time located in a community called Highbury. Listed at $598,500, it has a self-contained suite. The other listing was built a year later on a quiet cul-de-sac on a breathtaking lot; the bungalow is 1,222 square feet and priced at $749,900.

I'm sure no one has guessed that New Edinburgh was the name given to the east side of Sunnyside, directly below McHugh Bluff looking up to Crescent Road.

Within walking distance to downtown and fast becoming a district of new homes, you can still find an original two-bedroom bungalow that was built in 1911. Listed at $429,00, the realtor says the 753-square-foot recently renovated home has been rented out for $1,400 a month. It's obviously destined to come down to make way for another Sunnyside million-dollar mansion.

There's a three-storey townhouse for sale close by that is asking $1.1 million -- but what a beauty. There are 2,562 square feet of top-of-the-line finishings throughout, a truly gourmet kitchen, spacious master bedroom retreat with sitting area and a multi-purpose loft on the third floor overlooking the treed hillside.

Alas, there is only one house for sale in University Heights, but considering the four-level split has a great west-facing backyard and is close to the university and two hospitals, $629,900 sounds quite reasonable for a home in The Bronx.

David Parker writes Around Town columns on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Herald's business section.

He can be reached at 830-4622 or info@davidparker.ca
newsposter
 
Posts: 1964
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2005 11:13 am

Return to News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 38 guests