Photo: Sharon Hahn Darlin · CC BY 2.0History around Varsity: 15 designated places within 10 km
Before 1961: just 4.2% of the homes, where most towns have 18%. The nearest town with a top designation is Hillhurst, 5.7 km away.
Varsity’s area holds 8 top-tier places within 10 km
The mix: 8 National Historic Sites and 7 provincial or municipal listings. Closest of all is Wood's Douglas Fir Tree Sanctuary, in Bowness, 5.2 km off. 15 places lie within 10 km.
The 12 nearest, within 10 km
| Wood's Douglas Fir Tree SanctuaryProvincial historic resource · 5.2 km away, in Bowness |
| Heritage Hall - Southern Alberta Institute of TechnologyNational Historic Site · 1921–1923 · 5.6 km away, in Hillhurst |
| Mewata Drill Hall / Calgary Drill HallNational Historic Site · 1917–1919 · 6.9 km away, in Beltline |
| Knox United ChurchMunicipal historic resource · 7.7 km away, in Downtown Commercial Core |
| Centre Street BridgeMunicipal historic resource · 7.8 km away, in Sunnyside |
| BeaulieuNational Historic Site · 1891–1892 · 7.8 km away, in Beltline |
| Palace TheatreNational Historic Site · 1921–1922 · 8.1 km away, in Downtown Commercial Core |
| Bank of Nova ScotiaProvincial historic resource · 8.2 km away, in Downtown Commercial Core |
| Central Memorial Library and ParkNational Historic Site · 1908–1913 · 8.2 km away, in Beltline |
| Stephen AvenueNational Historic Site · 1880–1931 · 8.3 km away, in Downtown Commercial Core |
| Cathedral Church of the RedeemerMunicipal historic resource · 1905 · 8.4 km away, in Downtown Commercial Core |
| Burns BuildingProvincial historic resource · 1912 · 8.6 km away, in Downtown Commercial Core |
Near Varsity, within 10 km: built places from 1875 on
Within 10 km of Varsity but outside it: each historic place by its first recorded construction date.
The chart rests on 11 dated places within 10 km. Fort Calgary, in Downtown East Village, goes back furthest, to 1875.
New homes are rare in Varsity: 2.2% from 2016–21, against a usual 4.1%
Varsity built little from 2001 to 2015: 7.5% of its homes, where most towns have 15%. 68% of Varsity’s homes date from 1961 to 1980, well above the typical 27%. Only 16% of Varsity’s homes were built from 1981 to 2000, less than the typical town’s 23%.
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Varsity and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varsity | 12,605 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Dalhousie | 8,617 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Brentwood | 7,369 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Montgomery | 4,456 | 0 | 0 | — |
| University Heights | 4,031 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Bowness | 11,548 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Silver Springs | 9,042 | 0 | 0 | — |
Varsity in brief
Its oldest homes, those from before 1961, are 4.2% of the total, against 18% in the typical town. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: as with most towns its size, no historic place is listed.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Protection. Federal recognition isn’t a planning control: buildings the federal government owns follow its heritage policy, while others are protected only by a provincial or municipal designation.
- Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
- The federal register. The federal list is complete and open: Parks Canada’s directory for the designations, the Canadian Register of Historic Places for what each one is and why it matters.
- People and events. National historic persons carry no place in the open file. They appear on a town’s page when born there (same name, same birth and death years) or when a historic place inside it carries their name and its record names them with their dates; national historic events don’t appear.
- The tiers. The highest designations are National Historic Sites, Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and Québec’s classements; then come the other federal designations; then provincial and local listings.
- The grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
Questions about Varsity’s history
How many historic places does Varsity have on the registers?
Inside Varsity, none so far; Wood's Douglas Fir Tree Sanctuary, 5.2 km away in Bowness, is the closest.
How old are the homes in Varsity?
4.2% predate 1961, where the typical town has 18%.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).