Live in Killarney/Glengarry
A 1906 bungalow grid rebuilding lot by lot since 2002, with the West LRT's Westbrook Station on its own doorstep and a long-vacant redevelopment site next door.
Killarney/Glengarry's first subdivision plan was registered in 1906 and the land was formally annexed by the City in 1910, filling out after the Second World War with hundreds of small stucco and clapboard bungalows on 25- and 50-foot lots: 1.8 km², 7,920 residents in 3,625 dwellings at the 2021 census, with 40% rental. The Killarney Aquatic & Recreation Centre anchors the interior, Westbrook Station and Westbrook Mall sit on the community's own northern edge, and the land around the station has stood vacant since Ernest Manning High School moved out in 2011. This is what living here is actually like.
A 1906 bungalow grid rebuilding itself one lot at a time
Bounded by 17 Avenue SW to the north, 37 Street SW to the west, Richmond Road SW to the south, and 25A Street SW to the east. Ward 8.
Killarney's first subdivision plan was registered in 1906, but the community didn't fill in until after the Second World War, when developers put up hundreds of small stucco and clapboard bungalows on 25- and 50-foot lots. At the 2021 census: 1.8 km², 7,920 residents in 3,625 dwellings, with 40% rental.
The infill era. Since roughly 2002, those original bungalows have been coming down in a steady, piecemeal way — one lot, then the next, rather than a single coordinated redevelopment. The result is a streetscape where a 1950s original and a 2020s infill sit shoulder to shoulder on the same block, block after block.
Westbrook's unfinished business. The West LRT's Westbrook Station opened in 2012 on land that used to hold Ernest Manning High School, which relocated in 2011. The site has sat largely vacant since — sold to a developer in 2016, never built, and bought back by the City in 2024 for roughly $43 million. Whatever eventually goes up next to the station will be Killarney's biggest change since the LRT itself arrived.
What holds it together. The Killarney Aquatic & Recreation Centre is a genuine neighbourhood anchor, and the community association runs a garden, playground and an outdoor rink with fire pits each winter — the kind of small infrastructure that keeps a rebuilding community feeling like one.
- 1950s stucco and clapboard originals still stand block by block alongside new infill — condition varies enormously
- The vacant Westbrook Station lands are an open question; the City only reacquired them in 2024
- 40% rental brings real annual turnover, concentrated around the September lease cycle
- 17 Avenue and Westbrook Mall parking gets tight on weekends and during Stampede
- Ongoing infill construction means noise, dust and street parking pressure on many blocks
How Killarney/Glengarry got here
- 1906The first subdivision plan for Killarney is registered with the Alberta Land Titles Office.
- 1910The land is formally annexed by the City of Calgary.
- 1950sPost-war development fills the grid with hundreds of small stucco and clapboard bungalows.
- 2002Infill redevelopment begins replacing older structures on a piecemeal basis.
- 2011Ernest Manning High School relocates, vacating its original campus north of the community.
- 2012The West LRT opens on December 10, with Westbrook Station just north of the community.
- 2021Federal census records 7,920 residents in 3,625 dwellings, 40% of it rental.
- 2024The City buys back the vacant Westbrook Station lands for roughly $43 million to plan a community hub.
The pool, the rink, and the community's own green space
The Killarney Aquatic & Recreation Centre anchors the interior with a pool, dive tank and fitness centre. South of it, the Killarney-Glengarry Community Association runs a community garden, playground and an outdoor rink with fire pits each winter — genuinely used infrastructure rather than a marketing line.
The resident's angle: the green space south of the Aquatic Centre has recently drawn city funding for upgrades — worth checking the current state before assuming what's described here is fully built.
15 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 1–12 of 15 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. The West LRT gives this community a genuine transit option that several of its neighbours don't have.
Every gym within reach
The Aquatic Centre is the community's one large facility. Everything else within easy reach is either a golf course, a commercial club near Westbrook Mall, or the free option of the community's own rink and pathways.
- Pool, dive tank, weight and cardio gym, and a fitness studio
- Shaganappi Point Golf Course covers the shoulder seasons, east of the community
- Commercial clubs cluster around Westbrook Mall
- The community association's outdoor rink and fire pits are the free winter option
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Killarney Aquatic & Recreation Centre open | City pool with a dive tank, weight and cardio gym, and a fitness studio — the anchor facility. | 1–3 min |
| Shaganappi Point Golf Course open | 36 holes over two courses, east of the community. | 4–6 min |
| Westbrook-area commercial gyms open | Commercial clubs around Westbrook Mall. | 2–4 min |
| Mount Royal University Recreation open | Triple gymnasium, pool and fitness centre, with public memberships available. | 8–11 min |
| Killarney-Glengarry Community Association rink open | Free option: the community's own outdoor rink, with fire pits running each winter. | 1–2 min |
Confirm current hours directly — city recreation centres adjust schedules seasonally and around maintenance closures.
Two schools inside, both under 1 km of each other
Killarney Elementary carries public elementary with Montessori programming, and Holy Name Elementary carries Catholic bilingual and French Immersion — both inside the community, both a short walk from the Aquatic Centre.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Killarney Elementary School | Calgary Board of Education | Public elementary inside the community, with Montessori programming. |
| Holy Name Elementary School | Calgary Catholic School District | Catholic bilingual/French Immersion elementary inside the community, serving over 50 southwest communities. |
| A.E. Cross Junior High School | Calgary Board of Education | Designated public junior high in an adjoining neighbourhood. |
| Vincent Massey Junior High School | Calgary Board of Education | Designated public junior high in an adjoining neighbourhood. |
| Ernest Manning High School | Calgary Board of Education | Designated senior high; its original campus north of Westbrook Station relocated in 2011. |
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 current designation for a specific address before you buy — junior and senior high all designate to adjoining neighbourhoods.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The community association's outdoor rink runs fire pits on the coldest skating nights
- Westbrook Station's underground platform stays warmer than the bus stops feeding it
- The Aquatic Centre's dive tank pool deck fogs over on the coldest mornings
- Stucco-and-clapboard originals along the grid show their age in the January heating bill
- A chinook can clear 17 Avenue's shop-front snowbanks in an afternoon
- Shaganappi Point's fairways sit under snow, silent until the reopening
- The coldest week of the year often lands here rather than in January
- The community garden beds south of the Aquatic Centre stay frozen and empty
- Meltwater runs off Westbrook Mall's roofline into the vacant LRT lands beside it
- Greenskeepers walk Shaganappi Point assessing winterkill ahead of the season
- Cleats are the right footwear on the grid's shaded sidewalks
- Infill crews restart work on the community's 25- and 50-foot lots
- Shaganappi Point reopens for the season, fairways filling on the first mild weekend
- The community garden beds are turned and planted for the year
- 17 Avenue's sidewalk patios expand block by block
- Last hard frosts pass before the grid's oldest lots go back under construction
- Tee times at Shaganappi Point book out days ahead on the first warm weekends
- West LRT evening ridership through Westbrook climbs with the longer light
- The community's post-war ash and spruce canopy fills back in
- Long evenings put the 17 Avenue strip back in daylight past 9pm
- School lets out and Killarney Elementary's playground empties into the grid
- Shaganappi Point's tee sheet runs solid from dawn to dusk
- 17 Avenue's patios run at full capacity most evenings
- Thunderstorms building over the foothills are visible from the Westbrook Station plaza
- Stampede riders fill Westbrook Station's platform for the run downtown
- 17 Avenue's strip turns into one of the loudest stretches in the inner southwest
- Post-war bungalow stock without air conditioning gets genuinely uncomfortable on the hottest days
- The Aquatic Centre's outdoor deck and dive tank see their heaviest use of the year
- Shaganappi Point sees its peak play before the school-return rush
- Westbrook Mall's back-to-school traffic fills the lot
- Renters start touring in earnest for September leases across the grid
- The community garden's harvest comes in before the first cool nights
- September's lease turnover moves trucks through the grid's narrow lots
- Killarney Elementary's morning drop-off thickens 26 Avenue's side streets
- Shaganappi Point's late-season rates start once the school run returns
- Westbrook Station's morning platform crowds thicken again after summer's lull
- Peak colour runs through the grid's mature post-war street trees
- Shaganappi Point shuts down for the year on the first hard frost
- The community rink crew starts prepping the ice pad for the season
- Snow tires go on before the first real snowfall sticks
- The community association's outdoor rink opens for the season
- Westbrook Mall's holiday displays go up along the parking court
- The vacant Westbrook Station lands sit quiet under the season's first real snow
- Rental turnover slows once the September leases have settled in
- A chinook arch over Shaganappi Point can flip a −20 morning into a +5 afternoon
- Holiday lights along 17 Avenue's strip are visible from the grid's northern blocks
- The community rink's fire pits draw a steady crowd through the holiday break
- West LRT ridership through Westbrook drops as downtown empties out
36 photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed and served from this app — nothing loads from a third party. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 36 photographs.
Honesty note. This page uses only the general Calgary, seasonal, Alberta-wildlife and day-trip photography from the site's shared library. Nothing here is presented as a photograph of Killarney/Glengarry itself.