Inner City Living: Invasion Of The Infills in Calgary

Preservation of the past vs the revitalization of the present – that is the dilemma many of Calgary’s inner-city communities (and inner-city’s of many other cities) are facing as more and more infill projects of all shapes and sizes are invading their community.  One of the major concerns is that every year several of Calgary’s heritage homes are been torn down to make way for new infill projects.  

Is there a happy medium between preserving older smaller homes and creating new ones that are more attractive to today’s young families?  Should the city do more to preserve heritage homes? Should there be design regulations to make sure new infills don’t destroy the charm and character of our inner city streetscapes.

Is it too late?

It would be great to preserve this street of charming cottage homes from the early 20th century in Sunnyside as a reminder of how Calgary’s inner-city has evolved.

Small corner row houses are one of the most popular types of infill housing in Calgary today. They add diversity and density to the housing stock of the community.

Another example of a corner conversion from one single family home to a four-plex.

Lane homes are also becoming more popular in Calgary’s inner-city communities.

Preservation

Recently, I gave a talk for “Historic Calgary Week” titled the “Invasion of the Infill” that looked at the issue heritage home preservation.   

While I love the small cottage homes of the early 20th century and the quaint war-time homes of the mid 20th century, they unfortunately are not very attractive place to live for the average young professionals, empty nesters or young families to live.  

They are too small and lack many of the amenities that today’s home buyer is looking for i.e. open floor plan, modern kitchen, larger master bedroom with large closet and ensuite.

Some don’t even have a basement.  The market for these tiny quirky heritage homes is limited. 

Calgary currently has about 4,000 homes in various inner-city neighbours that are pre 1945.

While exploring many of Calgary’s inner-city neighbourhoods over the past year, I was surprised at how many older homes I found.  There were literally thousands of older homes from the mansions in Mount Royal, Scarboro, Roxboro or Elbow Park, to tiny cottage homes in Sunnyside, Bridgeland, Ramsay, Inglewood and beyond. 

FYI: The definition of a heritage home is anything built before 1945.  A City of Calgary survey in  2019/2020 of 26 communities resulted in identifying over 4,000 homes from the pre-1945 period.   

Heritage home champions are lobbying the City, Provincial and Federal governments various incentives for the preservation of heritage homes - things like grants, property tax breaks and density transfer.  

What isn’t on the table  and should be is the creation of a Heritage Home Foundation, something like the Parks Foundation, where individuals could donate their house or money which could then be used to buy, preserve and rent heritage homes without the threat of them being torn down to make way for an infill.  

Or perhaps a cooperative like Vancouver’s Mole Hill, a block of 30 heritage Victorian and Edwardian homes built between 1888 and 1908.  The Mole Hill Community Housing Society contains 170 social housing suites, three daycares and a group home all set in a park-like environment in the middle of their City Centre. 

I would love to see more homes and perhaps even some streets given heritage designation so they can be enjoyed for future generations, but I am not convinced it is the government’s role to do this. I think this is up to the citizens to preserve their history. 

For some the juxtaposition of large, modern, two-storey flat roof homes next to smaller pitched-roof heritage homes is destroying the historical character of the inner-city streets.

While others like the juxtaposition of the old and new and while it is jarring at first as more infills are added the diversity of design creates less of a cookie-cutter streetscape.

Mole Hill is the last surviving block of pre-First World War housing in Vancouver, with 30 heritage-listed properties built between 1888 and 1908.

Each home has been restored and is managed to foster a caring community.

Unfortunately this block of ‘50s bungalows is now being invaded by infills. It would have been nice to preserve this last block of mid-century homes.

A block of early 21st century infills. Will future generations want to preserve these homes?

Revitalization

From my perspective, Calgary’s inner city communities have greatly benefitted from the thousands of new infills projects that have attracted young families to live in our older neighbourhoods.  

While everyone is focused on the need to add density to the inner city, to me the real benefit is adding diversity to the housing stock.  Infills projects include not only large single family homes, but also duplexes, triplexes and small townhome projects – all very attractive to young families.

Infills, also include low (under 4 stories) mid (5 to 12 stories) and high-rise (over 12 stories) projects that are attractive to young professionals and empty nesters.  

A healthy community is one that offers a diversity of housing options, at different price points that are attractive to people of all ages and backgrounds.  Infill homes are a major catalyst for the revitalization of Calgary inner-city neighbourhoods, which are some of the healthiest in Canada. 

In some Calgary neighbourhoods all of the older homes have been removed and a new early 21st century streetscape has been created.

This infill project combines street level commercial uses, with residential above.

New infills have resulted in more young families returning to the inner city.

New large infills like this one are much more attractive to families with all of their toys.

Personally I love how new infills have revitalized our inner-city communities.

Last Word

While some might not like the aesthetics of the contemporary infills with their flat roofs and boxy shapes, it is obvious others do as residential infill projects of all shapes and sizes are continuing to be built in every one of Calgary’s 26 inner city communities, even with the city’s economic downturn.

Personally, I love the juxtaposition of the old and the new aesthetics.  However I don’t expect the debate to end soon. It has been going on for 20+ years now and will probably continue for another 20+ years, when my infill home will become a heritage home.

It would seem to me Calgary has achieved a nice balance between preservering the past and building for the future. 

Note: An edited version of this blog was published in the Calgary Heralds’ New Homes + Condos section on Saturday October 9, 2021 titled “Inner-City Infills Need Not Mean End To Heritage Homes.

If you like this blog, you will like these links:

The Debate Over Infill Developments? The Washington Post

CBC Winnipeg: Infill housing won’t destroy your neighbourhood- but it will bring you new neighbours

CBC: Is Infill housing the answer for Alberta’s biggest cities?