August News

July market statistics are in and it looks like numbers are very similar to June, meaning the market is quite steady at this time. There is still relatively low inventory in detached homes under $600,000, but we are starting to see a more balanced market for higher value homes. Certain areas of the city, including the central south west, continue to have high demand and lower inventory compared to other parts of Calgary, at all price points and housing types.

In this newsletter, I'm featuring a community that is a perfect mix of quiet and family friendly, while being close to so many amenities, recreation opportunities and more. Kelvin Grove is one of those neighbourhoods that people fall in love with and stay in for decades - it is definitely a highly sought after place people are looking to buy in. Further down in this month's edition, I've also shared a little history about Kelvin Grove and some of its surrounding neighbourhoods, many of which were built in the 1950s and 1960s.

The lucrative fall selling season is not far off! If you are thinking about listing in the coming months or are looking for a beautiful new place to call home, give me a call. I am happy to chat about your options, timing and next steps.

Have a wonderful rest of the summer!

Kelvin Grove

Kelvin Grove is an amazing community in mid southwest Calgary, just south of Glenmore Trail. Bordered by main thoroughfares like 14th St SW, Elbow Dr and 75 Ave SW, it is a perfect location to easily get anywhere in the Calgary area. The neighbourhood is home to about 1800 residents.The interior of the community is primarily single family homes, with some lower rise apartment buildings and condos on the edges of the area. Quiet and family friendly, Kelvin Grove and its adjacent community Chinook Park have lots of mature trees, green spaces and parkland to enjoy. It's also a quick 5 minute bike ride to the Glenmore Reservoir, Heritage Park and other recreation opportunities, including the community association's skate park! There are also a mix of restaurants, shops and services a quick walk or drive away. Be sure to check out more info below on the history of Kelvin Grove and some of the surrounding communities! If you are interested in finding a property in Kelvin Grove, let me know.

Stories of the Southwest:

The history of a few of Calgary's most loved SW neighbourhoods

Every neighbourhood has a story. Many Calgarians aren't aware of how their communities came to be, or what occupied the space before many homes were built. Here's a little background to explore on three of Calgary's top SW communities (excerpts from the Heritage Communities Local Area Plan - November 2021. More information on each community can be found by clicking the link).

Kingsland (1957):

Kingsland is likely named for Calgary's first sheriff, Peter Willoughby King (1835-1920), who subdivided this half-section in 1911 and called it Kingsland. Born in Perthshire, Scotland, he later was appointed sheriff by Canada's first prime minister and he held the post until 1905 when he took up horse ranching south of Calgary. After King died, and as per his wishes, his entire estate was used to establish a facility that eventually became YWCA Calgary's Domestic Violence Shelter (Sheriff King Home)

Kingsland was a speculative venture during Calgary's pre-First World War boom. It lay far south of the city limits at 50 Avenue, and it reflected the optimism of the time. Lots for industrial worker housing were advertised by a local real estate firm at $125. The boom was short-lived, and the subdivision failed to materialize. The area stayed outside the city limits and remained agricultural and lightly settled. By the 1920s, A. Jorgensen and F. Johnston farmed in the southeast quarter, while Harnam Singh Hari (ca. 1885-1969), an Indian Army veteran originally from Punjab and his family farmed on the northeast quarter. Singh Hari was known for his generosity, and he donated funds for worthy causes, including initiatives locally and in India. In 2014, a park at 717-80 Avenue SW was named Singh Hari Park in his family's honour.

Kelwood acquired lands from Singh Hari and developed Kingsland as a neighbourhood of detached homes, duplexes, apartment houses, churches, and schools with long, rectangular blocks parallel to Elbow Drive and angled streets and crescents further east.

Chinook Park (1959)
Chinook Park was part of Sam Livingston's sprawling farm, and an early trail traversed this property on a southwest-to-northeast angle. In 1912, 15 years after Sam's death, a group of equestrian enthusiasts formed the Chinook Jockey Club, and they planned to transform this property into a racetrack. The First World War disrupted the project, but R. James Speers, considered the father of race horsing in western Canada, completed it in 1925. Two years later, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor) attended the races during a royal visit to Calgary. A.E. Cross, founder of the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company and one of the Big Four ranchers who offered financial backing to the first Calgary Stampede in 1912, was president of the club at the time. The track ceased operations in 1942 because of wartime conditions. Apart from single detached homes, Chinook Park that was developed by Kelwood includes a seniors' residence, two commercial operations, and two churches.

Kelvin Grove (1961)
Joseph Whigham originally homesteaded on the northwest quarter in 1881, and he was followed by John Lee Bowen, who had managed the I.G. Baker Co. store in Calgary in 1885. At the peak of Calgary's pre-First World War boom in 1912, farmer William C. Jamieson (1832-1917), originally from Scotland, subdivided the property into 28 large estate lots and a strip of 16 smaller lots along the east boundary. The subdivision was named Kelvin Grove, likely after the Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park and the River Kelvin, both amenities in Jamieson's hometown. Two notable rancher-oilmen later lived in Kelvin Grove and raised horses there. Clifton Cuthbert (Cliff) Cross (1895-1959), an Ottawa-born oilman and rancher who established the Kelvin Grove Ranches in 1936. More memorably, William Stewart Herron (1908-1989), the namesake son of Alberta's founding oilman, acquired land in the future Chinook Park ak and Kelvin Grove neighbourhoods, and there he lived in a 1950s ranch-style house that remains extant at 1101-70 Avenue SW. In the mid-1940s, Herron commissioned Smithbilt Hats to design and manufacture white cowboy hats for his family's annual entry in the Stampede Parade and, before long, the hat became Calgary's symbol of western hospitality. Around 1960, Kelwood acquired land north of 70 Avenue SW from Herron and began to develop Kelvin Grove as a neighbourhood of detached family homes. Two extant patio-style apartment complexes were developed along Elbow Drive in the early 1960s. Kelvin Grove Patio Apartments, the first of its kind in Calgary was designed by architect and future alderman Jack Long and opened in 1963. The adjacent Garden Court Apartments, which included a playground and an outdoor heated swimming pool, was designed by W.G. Milne (who later designed the Calgary Tower) and opened in 1964. Herron developed the Wild Horse Golf Range in 1960 at the southwest corner of Glenmore Trail S and Elbow Drive SW. In 1972, the site was developed as Mayfair Place, a mixed-use 16-storey building, described as an "integrated living complex".

Photo (1958): Kelvin Grove is to the left (south) undeveloped. 66th Avenue (later Glenmore Trail) is in the middle running west toward Glenmore Reservoir. Elbow Drive runs across the bottom of the photograph. Meadowlark Park is below Elbow Drive and right of 66th Avenue. Kingsland is Elbow Drive and left of 66th Avenue.