Calgary Neighbourhoods: Sunnyside

Sunnyside is an innercity community in Calgary, Alberta located on the north side of the Bow River immediately adjacent to Calgary's downtown. The community partners with the neighbouring community of Hillhurst to form the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association. The combined communities have an area redevelopment plan in place, revised in 2009.

Kensington is a Business Revitalization Zone adjacent to the communities of Hillhurst and Sunnyside. It is an active family-friendly commercial area, abundant with amenities.

Sunnyside is one of Calgary's oldest communities. Originally settled by homesteaders in the 1880s, the land was purchased by the City of Calgary and incorporated into the city proper in 1904. Although the majority of the original residents of Sunnyside were Canadian Pacific Railway and Eau Claire Sawmill employees, the community now mainly attracts urban professionals and their families due to its quiet neighbourhood atmosphere and close proximity to Calgary's active downtown.

Beginning in 1913, streetcars were the main means of transport within the city. One of the lines traveled east through Sunnyside on 2 Avenue to pick up workers for the CPR. It then went up the hill to the north end of the Centre Street Bridge. There, the workers caught another streetcar to downtown. The area where the streetcar went up the embankment is now part of Calgary's paved pathway system; it begins behind the Calgary Curling Club, passes underneath the McHugh Bluff stairs and onwards to the top of the bluff.

Sunnyside was one of numerous Calgary neighbourhoods that suffered major damage in the Bow River flood of June 2013, with the community completely evacuated for a number of days.

Sunnyside's architecture is a mixed array of designs and styles each telling a story of the neighbourhood's history. Sunnyside has a blend of single-family dwellings, modern mid-rise high-density housing, neighbourhood corner stores and restaurants and walk-up apartment buildings.

In the 1880s, the Canadian Pacific Railway constructed “workers’ cottages" on 25-foot lots, which they rented to CPR employees. The cottages were wood framed and had cellars that were prone to flooding. Early residents describes the community’s houses as good, ordinary homes for working-class people. The community had wooden sidewalks, dirt roads, water from wells and springs, milk straight from cows and flooding in the spring. There were no lights, gas, sewers or stores.

Over the years many of these cottages have been torn down and replaced with new buildings representative of the trends of the day. The cottages that remain have all been upgraded with modern conveniences and utilities.

In the 1920s a series of apartment "mansions" were built along Memorial Drive. These so-called mansions were constructed of brick and concrete. Today these buildings are considered the pinnacle of trendiness in the Sunnyside Condo market.

The 1970s high oil prices brought a new wave of construction to Sunnyside. Many of the cottages and homes were torn down and replaced with one and two bedroom apartment buildings. Most of these concrete and brick buildings were upgraded and turned into condominiums.

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#Sunnyside #Sunnyside_Calgary #Calgary_Neighbourhoods #Calgary_Neighbourhood #YYC_Property_Management #Calgary_Property_Management

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