Live in Richmond
A 1950 bungalow community split by Crowchild Trail, now watching a former high school site rezone for up to 1,500 homes on its own doorstep.
Richmond was established in 1950 on land annexed by the City of Calgary in 1907: 1.8 km², 5,250 residents in 2,360 occupied dwellings at the 2021 census, with 37% rental. Crowchild Trail cuts the community in two, Marda Loop touches its southeast corner, and the vacant Viscount Bennett school site on Richmond Road is now rezoned for up to 1,500 housing units across eight buildings, three of them 16 storeys. This is what living here is actually like.
A 1950 community split by a freeway, watching a school site rezone
Bounded by 17 Avenue SW to the north, 20 Street SW to the east, 33 Avenue SW to the south, and Richmond Road SW to the west. Ward 8.
Richmond was established in 1950 on land the city had annexed in 1907: 1.8 km², 5,250 residents in 2,360 occupied dwellings at the 2021 census, with 37% rental. Crowchild Trail cuts straight through the middle of it, which means the community functions less as one neighbourhood than as two halves that happen to share a name.
The bungalow base. Most of the original stock dates to the 1950s building boom, and infill has been arriving steadily on the wider lots — a pattern common across the inner southwest, and one that shows up plainly in the housing condition and age of the streets on either side of the freeway cut.
The Viscount Bennett site. The former high school — later the Calgary Board of Education's Chinook Learning Services campus — closed and was sold to the Minto Group in 2023. Council approved rezoning the Richmond Road and Crowchild Trail site in 2025 for up to 1,509 housing units across eight buildings, three of them 16 storeys, over the objections of residents who have since filed for judicial review. Whatever the final count, this corner of Richmond is going to look very different within a decade.
What's already here. Richmond Green — the former community golf course — is mid-redevelopment into a public park with a disc golf course, and the Richmond Road Diagnostic and Treatment Centre occupies the site of the old Alberta Children's Hospital, which relocated northwest in 2007.
- Crowchild Trail bisects the community, and traffic noise is a real factor on the blocks closest to it
- The Viscount Bennett redevelopment brings years of construction traffic and eventual density change to the northwest corner
- 1950s originals still carry the era's full inspection list where infill hasn't already replaced them
- 37% rental means real turnover — expect more moving trucks in a given year than an owner-heavy community
- Thin resale inventory in some blocks; months can pass between comparable listings
How Richmond got here
- 1907The land is annexed by the City of Calgary.
- 1950Richmond is established.
- 1955Viscount Bennett opens as a combined junior-senior high school on Richmond Road.
- 1985Viscount Bennett High School closes; the building becomes the Calgary Board of Education's Chinook Learning Services campus.
- 2007Alberta Children's Hospital relocates to the northwest quadrant; its former Richmond Road site is converted to an outpatient and diagnostic centre.
- 2021Federal census records 5,250 residents in 2,360 occupied dwellings, 37% of it rental.
- 2023The Calgary Board of Education sells the closed Chinook Learning Services site to the Minto Group.
- 2025City council approves rezoning the Richmond Road and Crowchild Trail site for up to 1,509 housing units across eight buildings, including three 16-storey towers.
A former golf course becoming a public park
Richmond Green sits on Richmond Road at the community's southern edge — the former community golf course, closed in 2019 and now mid-redevelopment into a 48.5-acre public park with a disc golf course, pathways, a playground and pickleball courts.
The resident's angle: most of the park still reads as a construction zone in phases — check the current build stage before assuming the amenities described here are all open.
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. Crowchild Trail splits the community, so actual walk times vary noticeably depending on which side of it a given address sits.
Every gym within reach
Richmond has no large recreation centre of its own. The nearest full facility is Killarney's, just across the western boundary, with Mount Royal University's recreation centre and Richmond Green's own pathways filling out the rest.
- Pool, dive tank, weight and cardio gym, and a fitness studio
- Mount Royal University Recreation adds a triple gymnasium and pool, with public memberships available
- Shaganappi Point Golf Course covers the shoulder seasons
- Richmond Green's pathway and disc golf network is the free option, inside the community itself
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Killarney Aquatic & Recreation Centre open | City pool, dive tank, weight and cardio gym, and a fitness studio just across the western boundary. | 3–5 min |
| Mount Royal University Recreation open | Triple gymnasium, pool and fitness centre, with public memberships available. | 7–10 min |
| Shaganappi Point Golf Course open | 36 holes over two courses, northwest of the community. | 6–9 min |
| Marda Loop studios open | Independent yoga, pilates and small-group training studios along 33 Avenue. | 4–7 min |
| Richmond Green Regional Park pathways open | Free option: the former golf course's pathway and disc golf network, inside the community. | 1–3 min |
The free option improves as Richmond Green's redevelopment finishes — it is not fully built out yet.
One school inside, designations for the rest
Richmond School carries public elementary inside the community. Everything after grade 6 designates outward, and there is no Catholic school inside the boundary at all.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Richmond School | Calgary Board of Education | Public elementary, kindergarten to grade 6, inside the community. |
| A.E. Cross Junior High School | Calgary Board of Education | Designated public junior high in an adjoining neighbourhood, feeding into Central Memorial. |
| Central Memorial High School | Calgary Board of Education | Designated senior high, serving Richmond and most of the inner southwest. |
| Designated Catholic schools | Calgary Catholic School District | No Catholic school sits inside Richmond; students designate to the nearest CCSD elementary and to a senior high such as All Saints or St. Mary's. Confirm the current designation for a specific address. |
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 — southwest catchments have shifted repeatedly as infill has changed enrolment.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The Crowchild Trail cutting through the community collects drifting snow before the side streets do
- Richmond Green's disc golf baskets sit frozen and empty until the next chinook
- The walk across Richmond Road to Killarney's pool is the coldest crossing of the week
- Indoor recreation carries the season for a community split by a freeway
- A chinook can strip Richmond Green's old fairways to bare grass overnight
- Sunalta Station's platform waits shorten as the days lengthen toward month's end
- Crowchild Trail's road noise carries further across bare, frozen yards
- The coldest week of the year often lands here rather than in January
- Meltwater pools where Richmond Green's old golf course once drained toward Richmond Road
- Fencing and equipment stage back in around the former Chinook Learning Services site as the ground softens
- Cleats are the right footwear on the Crowchild Trail overpass sidewalks
- 1950s driveways throughout the community heave with the freeze-thaw cycle
- Richmond Green's pathway and disc golf network reopen for the season
- Garden centres along Richmond Road do steady trade as the frost breaks
- Marda Loop's patios wake up first, visible from Richmond's own southeast corner
- Infill crews return to the community's narrow bungalow lots
- Rental listings turn over early here, well ahead of the September rush
- The mature elm canopy along the pre-1960s streets fills back in
- Killarney Aquatic Centre's outdoor programming ramps up just across the boundary
- Long evenings put Crowchild Trail's rush hour back in daylight
- School lets out and Richmond School's playground empties into the surrounding streets
- Richmond Green's disc golf course runs leagues most weeknights
- Cranes over the Viscount Bennett redevelopment site are visible for blocks
- Thunderstorms building over the foothills are visible west down Richmond Road
- Stampede traffic detours some drivers onto Richmond Road and Crowchild Trail
- Marda Loop's festival crowds spill toward the community's southeast corner
- The hottest days make the 1950s bungalow stock without air conditioning genuinely uncomfortable
- Richmond Green's open lawns fill with picnics once the evening disc golf leagues clear out
- Renters start touring in earnest ahead of the September lease turnover
- Richmond Green's cottonwoods drop seed fluff along the old fairway lines
- Quiet weeks at Richmond School before the CBE year restarts
- Wildfire haze can settle into the Crowchild Trail cutting on windless days
- September's lease turnover is the busiest moving week in a 37%-rental community
- Richmond School's morning drop-off thickens the streets either side of Crowchild
- Public hearings on the Minto redevelopment resume after the summer recess
- Aspen colour starts first along Richmond Green's old fairway tree lines
- Peak colour runs through Richmond Green's old tree-lined fairways
- The Richmond Road Diagnostic Centre's lot gets its first frost most mornings
- Snow tires go on before the first real snowfall reaches Crowchild Trail
- Disc golf regulars trade summer rounds for shorter, colder ones
- Dark commutes make the Crowchild Trail cutting feel colder than the thermometer says
- Richmond Green sits closed and quiet under the season's first real snow
- Work on the former Chinook Learning Services site slows as the ground freezes
- Freeze sets in for good across the community's older driveways
- Chinook clouds gather over Richmond Road before the temperature actually turns
- Holiday lights along 17 Avenue's northern edge are visible from Richmond's own streets
- Richmond Green's disc golf baskets stand empty under fresh snow
- Quiet, short days between the holidays either side of the Crowchild cutting
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 Richmond itself.