Live in West Hillhurst
A 1945 community that began as Victory Homes for returning soldiers. Now one of the inner city's steadiest rebuilds.
West Hillhurst was annexed to Calgary in 1907 but did not fill in until 1945, when many of its houses went up as Victory Homes for soldiers returning from the Second World War. A number of them are still standing among the infill that has been replacing them: 27 per cent of the occupied stock dates from 1960 or before, and 49 per cent from 1991 or later. At the 2021 census the community held 6,635 residents in 2,825 private households, 36 per cent of them renting, on the flat between Kensington and the hospital hill with the Bow along its southern edge. The community association runs a rink, a fitness centre and courts at 1940 6 Avenue NW.
Victory Homes to river infill
Bounded east by 18 Street W, south by the Bow River, west by 28 Street W and north by Hounsfield Heights/Briar Hill and St. Andrews Heights. Ward 7.
The land was annexed to Calgary in 1907 and farmed by the Riley family, but nothing much was built on it until 1945, when many of the houses went up as Victory Homes for soldiers returning from the Second World War. A number of them were meant to be temporary and are still standing, among the infill that has been replacing them.
At the 2021 census West Hillhurst held 6,635 residents in 2,825 private households, with 36% renting and a median household income of $123,000 in 2020, against $98,000 across Calgary. The rebuild shows in the construction dates: 27% of occupied dwellings date from 1960 or before, and 49% from 1991 or later.
The community association runs a fitness centre, ice arena, gymnasium and squash, pickleball and tennis courts at 1940 6 Avenue NW. The Bow pathway runs the southern edge and a footbridge crosses Memorial Drive towards downtown, which shows in the commute: 33% of employed residents get to work in under fifteen minutes, against 21% across Calgary, and 12% walk.
- Victory Homes were built as temporary. An unrenovated one needs full-scope inspection
- 27% of occupied dwellings date from 1960 or before, and 49% from 1991 or later: infill construction is constant, and parking and noise follow it
- Renters are 36% of households, above the citywide 31%
- Memorial Drive's commuter flow bounds the south: orientation matters
How West Hillhurst got here
- 1907The land, farmed by the Riley family, is annexed to the City of Calgary. Substantial development waits nearly forty years.
- 1945West Hillhurst is established. Many of the first houses are Victory Homes for soldiers returning from the Second World War, a number of them intended to be temporary.
- 1948The West Hillhurst Community Association registers on 11 May. Its hall is at 1940 6 Avenue NW.
- 2019The City's last civic census counts 6,447 residents in 3,086 dwellings, 2,791 of them occupied and 1,631 owner-occupied.
- 2021The federal census counts 6,635 residents in 2,825 private households, with a median household income of $123,000 in 2020 against $98,000 across Calgary, and 36 per cent of households renting.
- 2020sThe rebuild shows in the construction dates: 27 per cent of occupied dwellings date from 1960 or before, and 49 per cent from 1991 or later.
Association-run, river-fronted
The pathway runs the river edge along the whole southern boundary, and the association's centre at 1940 6 Avenue NW carries the ice arena, gymnasium, fitness floor and the squash, pickleball and tennis courts.
What the map does not show: the arena and the racquet courts are the association's draw, and membership is the neighbourhood handshake. Neither the association nor the City lists a pool here: the nearest City pools are Foothills on 24 Avenue NW and Shouldice on Bowness Road NW.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not West Hillhurst
9 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 1–9 of 9 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. Kensington sits east beyond 18 Street, which is the community's own boundary.
Every gym within reach
The community centre first: it is the point. Confirm hours before you count on anything.
- MNP Community & Sport Centre, the former Repsol, on Macleod Trail south of the river
- Independent studios in Kensington, east beyond 18 Street
- The pathway is the free option both directions
- The campus facilities are minutes northwest
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| West Hillhurst Community Fitness open | The association's fitness centre, with an ice arena, gymnasium, squash, pickleball and tennis courts alongside it. | 1–3 min |
| MNP Community & Sport Centre open | Pools for swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo, plus a fitness centre and track at 2225 Macleod Trail South. It was the Repsol Sport Centre until MNP took the naming rights in spring 2022. | 9–13 min |
| The river pathway open | Free option: downtown one way, Edworthy the other. | 1–3 min |
| Kensington studios open | Independent studios in the district east of 18 Street. This guide has not confirmed which of them are open. | 2–4 min |
The association centre is the community's living room. Join it first, explore alternatives later.
Two Queen Elizabeth schools on the eastern boundary
Queen Elizabeth School and Queen Elizabeth High School sit adjacent on 18 Street and run separately. The high school takes grades 7 to 12 at 512 18 Street NW, had 968 students in September 2024, and serves West Hillhurst among eight inner northwest communities. Louise Dean School, for pregnant and parenting teenagers in grades 9 to 12, is also a Calgary Board of Education school here, and Wikipedia places École Madeleine d'Houet, a Catholic bilingual junior high, in the community.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Queen Elizabeth School | Calgary Board of Education | A CBE school on 18 Street that lists kindergarten among its classes. Its own page gives no grade range or attendance area. |
| Queen Elizabeth High School | Calgary Board of Education | Grades 7 to 12 at 512 18 Street NW, with 968 students at 30 September 2024. It operates separately from the adjacent elementary school and serves West Hillhurst among eight communities. |
| Louise Dean School | Calgary Board of Education | A CBE school for pregnant and parenting teenagers, grades 9 to 12, with childcare, counselling and health services on site. |
| École Madeleine d'Houet | Calgary Catholic | Wikipedia places this bilingual junior high in West Hillhurst. The Catholic district's own site refuses automated clients, so nothing here was read from the district. |
| Ladder confirmations | Both boards | No publisher prints an attendance area for an address. Confirm the designation with the board before you buy. |
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 designation for a specific address: no publisher prints an attendance area, and the Catholic district's own site refuses automated clients, so nothing on that side was read from the district itself.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The association's ice arena carries the season, along with the gymnasium and squash courts
- Priority snow routes keep the main roads clear
- Indoor recreation carries the season
- Long dark evenings, but rarely for weeks at a stretch
- Ski traffic west on the Trans-Canada peaks on Friday and Sunday
- Coldest snaps usually break with a chinook
- Noticeably longer light by month end
- Indoor pools at their busiest
- Melt and refreeze on the side streets: ice cleats weather
- Pathways reopen as the snow goes
- First patio afternoons on the warm chinook days
- Street sweeping begins late in the month
- Last hard frosts: planting waits for the May long weekend
- Pathway and park season opens properly
- Garden centres open across the quadrant
- Migratory birds return to the parks
- Long evenings: sunset past 9pm by month end
- Lilacs and crabapples through the older streets
- Field sport seasons start on the community greens
- First genuinely warm stretches
- Peak daylight at the solstice: over 16 hours
- School year ends and the parks fill
- Evening thunderstorms begin building over the foothills
- Farmers' markets open for the season
- The Calgary Folk Music Festival runs four days on Prince's Island Park in late July, a pathway ride downstream
- Hottest month, with cool nights at this elevation
- Evening thunderstorms roll off the foothills
- Canada Day events in the parks
- The Bow pathway along the southern edge is at its busiest
- Kananaskis and Banff at their best, straight west
- Quietest weeks before school returns
- Smoke from western wildfires is possible
- School year restarts and morning traffic thickens
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Poplar and aspen colour begins
- Evenings shorten fast
- Peak autumn colour through the older tree-lined streets
- First snow is normal, and normally melts
- Snow tires go on across the quadrant
- Nose Hill's grasses turn gold
- Ski season opens west on the Trans-Canada
- Dark by 5pm
- Freeze sets in for good
- Holiday retail season begins
- Chinook arches over the western skyline on clear days
- Holiday lights through the community streets
- Outdoor rinks open when the freeze holds
- Quiet, short days between the holidays
7 more photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–7 of 7 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near West Hillhurst, 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.