Calgary: The Evolution of Infill Housing

For the past 40+ years, the older communities surrounding Calgary’s City Centre have been undergoing a gradual revitalization as the result of new infill housing. These new homes, more suited to the modern family’s needs and expectations, has resulted in Calgary’s inner city communities becoming more attractive to young families, as well as young professionals looking to start a family.  This is not the case in many Canadian cities – Winnipeg, Hamilton, London, Halifax and Windsor - where city centers and surrounding communities have been in decline since the ‘70s.  It is a bit of an architectural “mishmash” but I love it.

However, not everyone agrees “infill development” is a good thing. An edited version of this blog was published in the Calgary Herald’s New Condos section titled “The Evolution of Calgary’s Infill Housing” on March 28, 2020. I have attached at the end of this blog a “Letter to the Editor” from a reader who identified numerous negatives associated with “infill development.” I will let you be the judge.

Also at the end of the blog is an interesting email from a reader who purchased one of the early West Hillhurst duplex infills called a “duo style” home that makes for interesting reading.

Healthy Communities

The key to fostering healthy inner-city communities is to make them attractive to young families, with attractive new homes available for purchase. 

Canadians love home ownership especially Calgarians.  

Home ownership in Canada is double that of Paris or Berlin, with Calgary having the highest home ownership in Canada at 73% vs Toronto at 67%, Vancouver at 64% and Montreal at 56%. Internationally, only 47.5% of Londoners own their own home, Berlin is 37.2% and Paris 33.2%.

Link: RBC Economic Research 2019  

Let’s take a look at how infill housing has evolved since they first started appearing in Calgary about 40 years ago. Note all of the homes in this blog can be found within a few blocks of each other in the communities of Briar Hill and West Hillhurst. Similar new homes can be found in all of Calgary’s inner-city communities that are within 7 kms of downtown.

This chart shows the number of new singles, duplexes and row/townhouses have been built in Calgary’s inner city communities since the year 2000. (Credit: City of Calgary, Geomatics Department Feb 2020)

Skinnies

Calgary’s first infill homes built back in the ‘70s and ‘80s were nicknamed “skinnies” for obvious reasons – they were only 17-feet wide.  They typically were the result of demolishing an old 600 square foot cottage house on a 50 -wide lot, then dividing the lot into two 25-,foot lots, so two homes could be built where there had been one.  However with side yard allowances they could be only 17 feet wide and usually about 50 feet long, creating an 850 square foot floor plate that was not much larger than the original single storey house. However, the late 20th century homebuyer wanted a bigger house, so a second story was added to create a taller and skinnier 1,700 square foot home that would be attractive to parents of young families.  

Million Dollar Duplexes  

The term “duplex” i.e. two attached houses had a negative connotation for many in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, as they were associated with rental affordable housing.  However, in the late ‘90s, infill home builders began responding to market demand for even larger infill homes by building attached infills (i.e. duplexes) which meant the homes could now be 21 feet wide and 50 feet long giving them a floor plate of 1,050 square feet. They also started to elevate the basement to allow for larger windows and higher ceilings to make them more attractive living spaces.  As a result, they created 3,000 square foot homes that would appeal to new home buyers looking to have all the modern amenities – owners’ retreat (former the master bedroom) with huge bathrooms, one bedroom for every child, several bathrooms, larger open main floor for entertainment and a media room and gym in the basement.  Perhaps even a home office or two.  Soon these duplexes were selling for almost a million dollars. 

At the same time, there were lots of skinnies also being built.  

Urban Estate Homes

The arrival of the 21st century, brought with it the arrival of the inner city McMansion.  This meant instead of demolishing an old house and creating two new ones, infill home builders would just build one large, 2,500+ square feet on two levels, plus a developed basement.  Using the entire 50 foot lot meant the floor plate could be larger, which allowed for even more open space, grand staircases and larger windows.  

At the same time, the Lane house also started to become more popular in the inner-city, often as a nanny or granny suite for the McMansion family.  

All the while, skinnies and luxury duplexes were also still being built.  

Niche Condos

Also beginning around the turn of the century, Calgary’s infill home builders identified the demand for new condo developments on select sites in inner-city communities. These were not the huge highrise towers you see in the Beltline, East Village or West Downtown, but rather smaller structures four to eight storeys.   Marda Loop and Inglewood are perhaps the best example of how these mid-rise buildings have transformed a struggling inner city community into a modern mixed-use urban village.  

At the same time, skinnies, duplexes and McMansions were continuing to be built also.  

In this case three houses were replaced by this 42 home condo if my memory serves me correctly.

Corner Conversions 

In the 2010s, infill home builders realized there was a market for smaller infill homes that didn’t cost a million dollars – something in the $500,000 to $600,000 range and 1600+ square feet.  With a little creatively, builders realized if they replaced the two-car garage per home with just a one-car garage and wrapped the development around a corner they could get up to seven homes on two 50-foot lots. Or, three or four homes instead of two on a single corner lot. Soon mini row-house like developments on corners were popping up everywhere. 

Drive along 5th Avenue NW in West Hillhurst or along 19th Street or 20th Ave NW in Capitol Hill and you will see several new or under construction corner conversions.

At the same time there are also still detached skinnies, duplexes, McMansions and niche condos also being built. 

Family Friendly 

As a result of the annual influx of new infill homes, Calgary’s inner city communities (within 10 km of downtown) are gradually attracting more young families to move back into the inner-city.  A review of the City of Calgary’s community profiles shows that city-wide, 19% of Calgarians are under the age of 14, in Altadore it is 20%, West Hillhurst 17%, Hillhurst 15%, Capitol Hill 14% and Bridgeland 11%.  These are all healthy numbers and have been growing for the past decade.   These communities also have healthy numbers for the 30 to 39 age group (compared to city-wide numbers), which means there are more children on the way.   

Entire streets have been transformed from small mid-century bungalows to larger two story modern homes that accommodate the modern family lifestyle.

This is what many of Calgary’s inner-city streets looked like before infill development.

21st Century Infills

In the 21st century inner city infill development has had its up and downs as you might expect. In the first five years singles, duplex and row housing were on par with each other. Then with the improved economy the number of singles and duplexes shot up until 2014. The past five years has seen a decline in the number of singles and duplexes, but an increase in row housing.  

However, even with the economic downturn there continues to be significant infill housing development in Calgary’s Inner City communities.  

Last Word

Over the last 40+ years, the modern family home has evolved from a single storey house, with one car and one bathroom, supported by one income, to a two-storey house, with two cars, two incomes, large kitchens and multiple bathrooms. Fortunately for Calgary, our inner city communities have been evolving with the times.

What is next? Perhaps more Lane homes? More niche small scale condo developments? Stay tuned.

An example of a Lane House in Calgary’s West Hillhurst community.

Letter to Editor

Neil M wrote:

I believe we were the owners of one of the first side by side duplexes in Calgary.  Our house at 1913 Broadview Rd NW was built in 1982.  We purchased it from the builder in 1983.  Our builder called it a “duo-style home.” likely to avoid the negative impressions associated with duplexes. 

The reason we believe we were one of or perhaps the first - a friend, who had just completed her real estate certification, wanted to do an appraisal of our house for practice.  She came back about a month later and stated she could not complete the appraisal because there were no other homes of this style in Calgary to use for a comparison.  

As you know, we loved this house as did our neighbours on the other side of the wall.  We raised two kids there who had the definite advantage of a six block walk to QE school (ECS to Gr 12) and of course local parks and playgrounds.  Proximity to downtown, North Hill Centre, local shops, etc were big advantages and the reason we chose to live there. 

The house was built with a number of unique (at the time) features including:

• An offset with one-side set back slightly so that interior and exterior living areas were not exactly matched, A one foot wide space between the units created using fireproof cement board with the space filled with insulation (very effective sound proofing).

• Front entrances on the outer edge rather than sharing the same middle front porch,

• Separate roofs and exterior cladding so there was a distinct separation between the units exterior finishing allowing each home owner to look after maintaining their unit,

• A large garage in the rear that was separated by a fire wall. 

Some modern versions of this home style have the interior stairwell as the only adjoining interior space to avoid noise transfer.  There was certainly a decided space advantage of an attached home built on a split 50 ft lot vs the single “skinnies” as you noted. 

My Herald columns don’t often generate a response from Herald readers but this one did. John McFaul of Calgary, wrote the following letter titled “Infill housing full of negatives.”

All of his negatives are true, but do they outweigh the positives?

We cut down a tree when we moved into our new infill in 1992 and were told that it was dying as many of the old populars in older neighbourhoods are at the end of their life expectancy.

We did plant more bushes and more trees have been planted in the park across the street.

Infills definitely result in the increasing the value of the land and housing I the community but this also increases the tax base for the city and utilizes existing infrastructure better.

Personally I have no sympathy for the need for more privacy. I love seeing my neighbours in their backyard or on their porch and chatting with them. I don’t get the need for six foot privacy fences.