Highland Park

A walkable grid above Centre Street, wrapped around a valley that was never built on.

Annexed in 1910 and left to homesteads until the oil boom of the 1940s and 50s filled it in, Highland Park still reads as a post-war grid, with sidewalks on both sides of every street and the garages reached from gravel alleys behind the lots, so front driveways are rare. The valley at its centre was judged too low to build on and became a golf course in 1965 under an agreement with the City. That course closed in 2011 and the land was sold in 2012. The site has been the subject of a long-running redevelopment proposal since. Centre Street North is the main street. The community takes in four older districts, North Balmoral, Ree-Heights, Rose Lawn and Highland Park itself.

We wrote the full story on The Desk. Living in Highland Park.