Mount Royal

Curving streets on the escarpment, laid out by the CPR to sell a view.

The hill belonged to the Canadian Pacific Railway, which subdivided it from 1905 into lots large enough to attract buyers who could afford the view. Enough of them arrived from the United States that the area was known locally as American Hill before it took the name of the Montreal neighbourhood where the CPR president lived. Building ran hard from 1904 to 1914, and restrictive covenants on the titles held development to single houses and set minimum construction costs. Sixty-eight heritage homes still stand. Lower Mount Royal was subdivided into smaller lots and carries the density along 17th Avenue.

We wrote the full story on The Desk. Living in Mount Royal.