Living in Hillhurst, Calgary

Short answer: Hillhurst runs from the Bow River, past Kensington's shops and restaurants and the green of Riley Park, up to SAIT on 16 Avenue NW. Downtown is 2.8 km away, and Hillhurst has more City-listed historic resources than any other of the 11 communities in these guides.

Why live in Hillhurst?

In Hillhurst the car can stay parked. Kensington's restaurants are on the doorstep, Riley Park is in the middle of the community, the river pathway runs along the bottom, and SAIT's main campus sits at the top beside the SAIT/ACAD/Jubilee CTrain station.

Part of the city since 1907, Hillhurst has 35 historic resources on the City's list, the most in these guides, among them Hillhurst Baptist Church (1907), Fire Hall No. 6 (1909) and Hillhurst School (1911).

What is there to do outdoors in Hillhurst?

The Riley family homesteaded Riley Park's land in 1888, and it was left to the City in 1909. Today its 9 hectares hold one of Calgary's cricket pitches, a wading pool, a playground and the Senator Patrick Burns Memorial Rock Gardens, built in the 1950s with more than 20,000 pieces of flagstone salvaged from the senator's demolished mansion.

Along the river, Poppy Plaza and the Memorial Drive pathway are in the community, and the Bowview outdoor pool is just beyond it.

Is Hillhurst the same as Kensington?

No. Kensington is the business district along Kensington Road and 10 Street NW, and Hillhurst shares it with Sunnyside. The district holds 64 licensed places to eat with seating, 24 of them with patios, and 75 retailers.

What schools are in or near Hillhurst?

Hillhurst has its own elementary, junior high and senior high schools, and the Alberta University of the Arts is in the community too.

• Hillhurst School: public, elementary, inside Hillhurst
• Queen Elizabeth School: public, elementary, inside Hillhurst
• Queen Elizabeth High School: public, junior high and senior high, inside Hillhurst
• Alberta University of the Arts: post-secondary, inside Hillhurst
• Rosedale School: public, elementary and junior high, about 200 metres past the edge
• Sunnyside School: public, elementary, about 450 metres past the edge
• SAIT (main campus): post-secondary, inside Hillhurst

How far is Hillhurst from downtown?

Hillhurst is about 2.8 km from downtown (City Hall) in a straight line. Sunnyside station is about 120 metres outside the community.

Straight-line distance to	km
Downtown (City Hall)	2.8 km
University of Calgary	3.2 km
Foothills Medical Centre	2.8 km
SAIT	Inside Hillhurst
Mount Royal University	5.8 km
Alberta Children's Hospital	4.3 km

What are the homes like in Hillhurst?

Lots in Hillhurst are the smallest of the 11 communities in these guides, a median of 3,760 sq ft for the older houses. Of 964 detached houses, 489 were built before 1970, with a median 2026 assessment of $863,000; taken parcel by parcel, that's about $217 per square foot of lot, the highest of the 11.

An assessment isn't a sale price. To see what a builder might pay for an older home's lot, read What Is My Calgary Lot Worth to a Builder?

What is Hillhurst zoned?

Hillhurst is mostly R-C2: 62% of the 1,321 low-density residential lots in Hillhurst are R-C2 on the City's land use map, after the repeal of citywide R-CG zoning took effect on 4 August 2026. A third of the low-density lots, 443 of 1,321, are M-CG, a multi-residential district.

Zoning	Lots	Share
R-C2	821	62%
M-CG	443	34%
Other	57	4%

• R-C2 (Residential, Contextual One/Two Dwelling): Single-detached, semi-detached and duplex homes, with suites allowed.
• M-CG (Multi-Residential, Contextual Grade-Oriented): Multi-residential homes of low height and low density, with some or all units opening directly to grade.

To check a single address, use the zoning lookup, and for what reverted and why, see what the repeal changed.

How much infill is being built in Hillhurst?

From 1 March 2025 to 25 October 2026, Hillhurst had 9 infill development permit applications, and building permit applications for 11 new infill homes naming 7 different builders. 13 demolition permits were filed over the same period.

Lot-by-lot infill is slow here: 11 homes on permit applications, against 88 apartment units.

New infill homes on permits	Units
Detached houses	7
Semi-detached	4
Rowhouse and townhouse	0
Total	11

Questions about living in Hillhurst

Is Hillhurst a good place to live?

Hillhurst is made for walking: Kensington is on the doorstep, and Riley Park and the river pathway are in the community.

Is SAIT in Hillhurst?

Yes. SAIT's main campus, at 1301 16 Avenue NW, is inside Hillhurst's boundary, and so is the SAIT/ACAD/Jubilee CTrain station.

Sources: City of Calgary open data, pulled 25 October 2026: building permits, development permits, 2026 assessments, land use districts, community boundaries, parcel addresses, schools, parks, pathways, off-leash areas, CTrain stations, libraries, recreation facilities, community services, business licences, business improvement areas, historic resources, public trees, 2021 federal census by community and annexation history. Park details from calgary.ca: Riley Park. District descriptions from Land Use Bylaw 1P2007, Part 5 and Part 6. The repeal date is from the City of Calgary. Business counts include licences that are current or up for renewal. Low-density residential lots are detached, semi-detached, rowhouse and vacant parcels in the residential class of the 2026 assessment roll, each counted in the district covering most of it; some sit in multi-residential districts. Distances are straight-line from the middle of the community. Infill development permit applications are those for semi-detached, rowhouse, townhouse and multi-residential homes and for contextual single-detached homes; other new single-detached houses are not counted. They are counted as filed, whatever their later status; building and demolition permits leave out cancelled, refused and expired ones.