Eau Claire Estates
Eau Claire Estates is ten towers on Eau Claire Avenue SW, standing on the Bow River bank beside Prince's Island Park. It was built in 1983, which makes it older than almost everything residential around it, and it was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the Chicago firm behind the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center.
The complex
Ten towers served by fourteen elevators, with private lobbies holding one or two suites per floor. That arrangement is the reason the complex reads as a group of small buildings rather than one large one, and it is why the elevator count is high against the tower count. Fourteen elevators across ten towers is the ratio that produces those private lobbies, and it is the number to look at if you want to understand how the complex is organised. A further building was added in 1995, which brought the group to its present form. The complex sits on its own landscaped ground rather than on a street frontage, which is unusual for downtown Calgary and was more unusual in 1983.
The complex runs a health club holding an indoor pool, a fitness centre, a hot tub, and a sauna. A squash court, a billiards room, a resident lounge with a library, and a landscaped central courtyard sit alongside it.
Concierge and security staff hold the desk around the clock, at two people a shift, and the complex carries access control and video surveillance throughout. Management is full time and on site, and parking is underground and heated, with guest stalls and a car wash bay.
What is around it
Prince's Island Park is across the water on a footbridge, with the Bow River pathway running both banks. Eau Claire Plaza and the market blocks are a short walk east. Stephen Avenue, the downtown shopping blocks, and the restaurant streets are all within a few blocks south, and the Plus 15 network reaches this edge of downtown, which is the difference between a January walk and a January outing.
Eau Claire has been rebuilt around this complex twice over, and we cover that in Living in Eau Claire.
As of December 2025, Eau Claire Estates did not permit short-term rentals. Confirm the current position with the condominium corporation before writing an offer.
