Live in Richmond
A 1950 community split by Crowchild Trail, with the vacant Viscount Bennett school site on its doorstep and a redevelopment fight over it that the community association is still contesting.
Richmond was established in 1950 on land the City annexed in 1907, and at the 2021 census it held 5,250 residents in 2,360 private households on a 1.89 km² polygon, 37 per cent of them renting. Crowchild Trail cuts the community in two. Its housing is more mixed than the bungalow reputation suggests: 36 per cent single-detached, 24 per cent semi-detached, and 45 per cent of the occupied stock built since 2001. The Calgary Board of Education sold the closed Viscount Bennett site to the Minto Group in May 2023, and the community association is still contesting the land use application over it.
A 1950 community split by a freeway, arguing about a school site
The Richmond/Knob Hill Community Association gives its area as 17 Avenue north, 33 Avenue south, Richmond Road west and 20 Street east, in the southwest quadrant. Wikipedia is looser: on both sides of Crowchild Trail, south of 17 Avenue S.W. Ward 8, in the City's Centre sector.
Richmond was established in 1950 on land the city annexed in 1907, and the community association says the annexation came in two phases, 1907 and 1910. At the 2021 census it held 5,250 residents in 2,360 private households on a 1.89 km² polygon, with 37% renting. Crowchild Trail cuts straight through the middle of it, which means the community functions less as one neighbourhood than as two halves that happen to share a name.
Not the bungalow community it sounds like. Twenty-seven per cent of the occupied stock dates from 1960 or before, but 45% has gone up since 2001, and only 36% is single-detached. 24% is semi-detached, four times the citywide share, with another 13% apartments or flats in a duplex. Median household income was $113,000 in 2020 against $98,000 citywide, and 34% of workers here get to work in under fifteen minutes against 21% across Calgary.
The Viscount Bennett site. The former high school, later the Calgary Board of Education's learning services campus, closed and sold: the sale to the Minto Group of Ottawa closed on 24 May 2023, and a land use application, LOC2023-0359, went in that November. The community association's own development page describes about 2,500 units at over 200 per acre, with maximum heights of 8 storeys, 15 storeys and no maximum across the three land use categories, and records a Council decision scheduled for 8 April 2025 with the association urging Council to reject it. That page does not say the rezoning was approved, and nothing this audit opened supports the 1,509 units, eight buildings or three 16-storey towers this guide used to state. Note also whose page it is: the association is a party to the fight.
What is already here. Richmond Green is open space on Richmond Road; no City park page for it could be opened for this audit, so its size, its former life as a golf course and its disc golf network are all unverified here. The Richmond Road Diagnostic and Treatment Centre occupies the site Wikipedia says held the Alberta Children's Hospital until it relocated in 2007.
- Crowchild Trail bisects the community, and traffic noise is a real factor on the blocks closest to it
- The Viscount Bennett site is unresolved. Read the community association's own development page for where the application stands, and remember the association is one side of the argument
- 27% of the occupied stock predates 1960 and carries that era's full inspection list where infill has not already replaced it
- 37% of households rent. Expect more moving trucks in a given year than in an owner-heavy community
- Only 36% of the stock is single-detached and 24% is semi-detached. Check what a specific address actually is before you price it
How Richmond got here
- 1907The land is annexed by the City of Calgary. The community association says the annexation came in two phases, 1907 and 1910.
- 1950Richmond is established. Most of the development happens through the 1950s.
- 1954The Richmond/Knob Hill Community Association registers as a provincial society on 16 June. Its hall is at 2433 26 Avenue S.W., licensed for 100, with a Skate Shack beside it.
- 2007Richmond was the location of the Alberta Children's Hospital until this year, when it relocated. Its former Richmond Road site is now an outpatient and diagnostic centre.
- 2021The federal census counts 5,250 residents in 2,360 private households, 37 per cent renting, with median household income for 2020 at $113,000 against $98,000 citywide.
- 2023The sale of the Viscount Bennett site closes on 24 May to the Minto Group of Ottawa. A land use application, LOC2023-0359, is submitted on 15 November.
- 2025The community association records a City Council decision on that application scheduled for 8 April, with the association urging Council to reject it. Its page describes about 2,500 units at over 200 per acre and maximum heights of 8 storeys, 15 storeys and no maximum across the three land use categories. It does not say the rezoning was approved.
Open space on Richmond Road, and not much published about it
Richmond Green sits on Richmond Road at the community's southern edge. This audit could not open a City park page for it, and the City's golf list does not carry it, so the 48.5 acres, the 2019 golf course closure, the disc golf course and the pickleball courts this guide used to describe have no publisher behind them. What is certain is that the open space is there, inside the community.
What the map does not show: go and walk it. With nothing published about the redevelopment stage, what you see on the day is better evidence than anything written down, this guide included.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Richmond
15 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 15 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from the centre of the community to each destination using Calgary's road grid, and are rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. Crowchild Trail splits the community, so actual walk times vary noticeably depending on which side of it a given address sits.
Every gym within reach
Richmond has no large recreation centre of its own. The nearest full facility is Killarney's, just across the western boundary, with Richmond Green's own open space filling out the rest.
- Pool, dive tank, hot tub, teaching pool, steam room, weights and cardio, a fitness studio and a universal change room, on the City's list
- Mount Royal University publishes no recreation page this audit could open, so the triple gymnasium, pool and public memberships are unverified
- Shaganappi Point, 1200 26 Street S.W., is a City course: 18 holes at 5,181 yards plus a 9-hole course, so 27 holes rather than 36
- Richmond Green's open space is the free option, inside the community itself
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Killarney Aquatic & Recreation Centre open | 1919 29 St. S.W.: pool, dive tank, hot tub, teaching pool, steam room, weights and cardio, a fitness studio and a universal change room, on the City's indoor pools list. | 4–7 min |
| Mount Royal University Recreation open | Mount Royal publishes no recreation page this audit could open, so the triple gymnasium, pool and public memberships this guide used to claim are unverified. Check directly before you plan around it. | 8–12 min |
| Shaganappi Point Golf Course open | 1200 26 Street S.W.: a City 18-hole course of 5,181 yards, par 68, with a 9-hole course alongside it. | 5–7 min |
| Marda Loop studios open | Independent studios along 33 Avenue. This audit opened no publisher listing them, so treat the count and the hours as unverified. | 4–7 min |
| Richmond Green Regional Park pathways open | Free option: the open space on Richmond Road. No City park page for it could be opened, so check what is actually there. | 1–3 min |
Confirm hours and memberships directly. Mount Royal in particular publishes nothing this audit could read about public access.
One school inside, designations for the rest
Richmond School is the Calgary Board of Education school inside the community; its own site prints no grade range and no attendance area. Central Memorial High School, 5111 21 Street S.W., grades 10 to 12 with an enrolment of 1,575 in 2021, lists Richmond among the communities it serves, which makes it the one designation here with a publisher behind it. No publisher this audit opened names a Catholic school inside the boundary or a designated Catholic school for the community.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Richmond School | Calgary Board of Education | Inside the community. Its own site describes an inclusive learning community with work in literacy, fine arts and technology, and prints no grade range, address or attendance area. |
| Central Memorial High School | Calgary Board of Education | 5111 21 Street S.W., grades 10 to 12, enrolment 1,575 in 2021. Its own article lists the communities it serves and Richmond is among them. |
| A.E. Cross School | Calgary Board of Education | Named by this guide before the audit as the junior high. No publisher opened here prints its attendance area, so treat the designation as unconfirmed. |
| Catholic schools | Calgary Catholic School District | No publisher this audit opened names a Catholic school inside Richmond or a designated Catholic school for it, and the district's site refuses automated clients. Confirm the current designation for a specific address. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Confirm the current designation for a specific address before you buy: the Calgary Board of Education publishes designations only through an address search, and the Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The Crowchild Trail cutting through the community collects drifting snow before the side streets do
- Richmond Green's open space sits frozen and empty until the next chinook
- The walk across Richmond Road to Killarney's pool is the coldest crossing of the week
- Indoor recreation carries the season for a community split by a freeway
- A chinook can strip Richmond Green's open lawns to bare grass overnight
- Sunalta Station's platform waits shorten as the days lengthen toward month's end
- Crowchild Trail's road noise carries further across bare, frozen yards
- The coldest week of the year often lands here rather than in January
- Meltwater pools across Richmond Green's low ground toward Richmond Road
- Attention returns to the Viscount Bennett site, sold to the Minto Group in May 2023 and still the subject of a land use application
- Cleats are the right footwear on the Crowchild Trail overpass sidewalks
- 1950s driveways throughout the community heave with the freeze-thaw cycle
- Richmond Green's pathways come back into use for the season
- Garden centres along Richmond Road do steady trade as the frost breaks
- Marda Loop's patios wake up first, visible from Richmond's own southeast corner
- Infill crews return to the community's narrow bungalow lots
- Rental listings turn over early here, well ahead of the September rush
- The mature elm canopy along the pre-1960s streets fills back in
- Killarney Aquatic & Recreation Centre, 1919 29 St. S.W., is the nearest City pool, just across the boundary
- Long evenings put Crowchild Trail's rush hour back in daylight
- School lets out and Richmond School's playground empties into the surrounding streets
- Richmond Green's open lawns fill on the long weeknight evenings
- The Viscount Bennett site is still vacant, its future the community association's main development file
- Thunderstorms building over the foothills are visible west down Richmond Road
- Stampede traffic detours some drivers onto Richmond Road and Crowchild Trail
- Marda Loop's festival crowds spill toward the community's southeast corner
- The hottest days make the 1950s bungalow stock without air conditioning genuinely uncomfortable
- Richmond Green's open lawns fill with picnics through the long evenings
- Renters start touring in earnest ahead of the September lease turnover
- Richmond Green's cottonwoods drop their seed fluff across the open ground
- Quiet weeks at Richmond School before the CBE year restarts
- Wildfire haze can settle into the Crowchild Trail cutting on windless days
- September's lease turnover is the busiest moving week in a 37%-rental community
- Richmond School's morning drop-off thickens the streets either side of Crowchild
- The Richmond/Knob Hill association's development page is the place to check where the Minto application stands
- Aspen colour starts first along Richmond Green's tree lines
- Peak colour runs through Richmond Green's tree lines
- The Richmond Road Diagnostic Centre's lot gets its first frost most mornings
- Snow tires go on before the first real snowfall reaches Crowchild Trail
- Richmond Green's regulars trade long evenings for short cold ones
- Dark commutes make the Crowchild Trail cutting feel colder than the thermometer says
- Richmond Green sits closed and quiet under the season's first real snow
- The Viscount Bennett site sits quiet through the freeze
- Freeze sets in for good across the community's older driveways
- Chinook clouds gather over Richmond Road before the temperature actually turns
- Holiday lights along 17 Avenue's northern edge are visible from Richmond's own streets
- Richmond Green lies open and empty under fresh snow
- Quiet, short days between the holidays either side of the Crowchild cutting
3 more photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–3 of 3 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Richmond, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Calgary library.