Alta Vista is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

Alta Vista Ward Alta Vista Ward (Ward 18) is a city ward (politics), ward in the city of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada represented on Ottawa City Council. Alta Vista Ward was created prior to the 1966 Ottawa municipal election, 1966 election when Gloucester Ward ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Its boundaries according to the Alta Vista Community Association are that part of Alta Vista Ward south of

Smyth Road Smyth Road () ( Ottawa Road #72), is a main road in eastern Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from Riverside Drive to St. Laurent Boulevard. This residential area was developed in the 1950s. The street was originally lined with large elm trees, gi ...

in the north, north of

Walkley Road Walkley Road ( Ottawa Road #74) is a major road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from Riverside Drive to Ramseyville Road (formerly Baseline Road). It is mostly a four-lane divided road which runs through both residential and industrial ar ...

and east of the

Rideau River The Rideau River (, ) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writing by Samuel de Champl ...

(and Bank Street), and west of the "greenspace underneath Haig Drive". However, the name is ambiguous, as there are several sub-neighbourhoods in this area, (see list below), as the neighbourhood could refer to the ward as a whole, down to the core Alta Vista area, (which could be defined as south of Pleasant Park Road, north of Heron Road, and west of the eastern greenspace corridor), centred on Alta Vista Drive.

Alta Vista Drive Alta Vista Drive is a suburban road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and is the main north-south street in the city's Alta Vista Ward. It runs from Bank Street in the south to Industrial Avenue in the north covering the neighbourhoods of Ridge ...

is a major street running through the neighbourhood, and shares its name. Both are named for their relative height, as the neighbourhood is generally higher than most of the city. Alta Vista is a highly

residential A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...

neighbourhood with a strong

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

, several schools, religious buildings of many faiths, and community centres. It also has a vast amount of greenspace and parks, much of which is part of the Alta Vista Transportation Corridor Environmental Assessmen
Ottawa East Community Association
The

OC Transpo OC Transpo is the primary Transit district, public transport agency for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operating bus rapid transit, light rail, conventional transit bus, bus routes, and door-to-door paratransit in the nation's capital regi ...

Transitway also runs through Alta Vista, with two stations in the neighbourhood itself ( Pleasant Park and Riverside) as well as two just outside ( Billings Bridge and

Smyth Smyth is an early variant of the common surname Smith (surname), Smith commonly found in Ireland.Citation: Bardsley, 1901 Shown below are notable people who share the surname "Smyth". Notable people sharing the Smyth surname Listed here are peop ...

), serving as a vital transit link to the rest of the city. The General Campus of the

Ottawa Hospital The Ottawa Hospital () is a hospital system in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The system was formed through the merger of the former Grace Hospital, Ottawa Riverside Hospital, Ottawa General Hospital and Ottawa Civic Hospital. The system is affiliated w ...

, and The

Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario — Ottawa Children's Treatment Centre, commonly known by its acronym CHEO ( ), is a children's hospital and tertiary trauma centre for children and youth located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. CHEO serves p ...

are located just on the north side of Smyth Road, in Riverview, while the Riverside Campus of the Ottawa Hospital is located at Smyth and Riverside Drive. There are two

shopping malls A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, it began to be used as a generi ...

in and around Alta Vista: the

Billings Bridge Plaza Billings Bridge Shopping Centre is a shopping mall located in the Billings Bridge neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a medium-sized community mall with 83 stores and services. Roughly 7.5 million people visit the mall every year and ...

Shopping Centre at Bank Street and Riverside and the Elmvale Shopping Centre at St. Laurent and Smyth. Alta Vista had a population of about 24,726 as of the

Canada 2021 Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...

(Community Association borders). Kilborn Allotment Gardens

History

The first subdivision in the area was built in 1892 and was known as Rideau Park. The area was part of the Billings Estate and was for market gardeners. Much of what is now Alta Vista was owned by the Billings Family and was part of their estate. An earlier subdivision known as Gateville was established in 1874 but disappeared in the 1920s. The Alta Vista name dates back to at least 1939 as a separate subdivision from Rideau Park. At the time, the area was part of Gloucester Township, but was annexed by Ottawa in 1950. Alta Vista began to be suburbanized in the 1950s, with Rideau Park expanding, and the new subdivisions of Faircrest Heights, Applewood Acres being built in the north, Ridgemont in the south and Elmvale Acres in the east. In the 1960s, the subdivision of Urbandale Acres was built between Elmvale Acres and the rest of Alta Vista.

Sub neighbourhoods

The Alta Vista area encompasses many smaller neighbourhoods: * Applewood Acres *

Billings Billings is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billin ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

* Faircrest * Guildwood Estates * Heron Gate * Playfair Park *

Rideau Park Rideau Park is a residential neighbourhood in southwest Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The name Rideau means curtain in the French Language. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by 111 Street, on the east by Calgary Trail, on the north by Whit ...

* Ridgemont * Urbandale Acres

Schools

There are several schools in the area, including: Public elementary schools *Alta Vista Public School *Arch Street Public School *Featherston Drive Public School * Pleasant Park Public School Public secondary schools * Ridgemont High School * Canterbury High School Catholic schools *St. Gemma Catholic *Ste-Geneviève Catholic School * St. Patrick's Intermediate * St. Patrick's High School

Demographics

Using the community association border, Alta Vista corresponds to Census Tracts 5050005.00, 5050006.00, 5050007.03, 5050007.01, 5050007.02, and 5050009.00 which have has a combined population of 20,615 (2016 census). Census Tract 5050007.02 corresponds to Heron Gate which had a population of 4,660 Census Tract 5050007.01 corresponds to Playfair Park which had a population of 2,463 Census Tract 5050007.03 corresponds to the Featherston Drive area ( Guildwood Estates and Urbandale Acres) and had a population of 3,723 Census Tracts 5050006.00 and 5050005.00 make up the remaining core of Alta Vista, west of the greenspace running from Smyth Road to Walkley Road. These two census tracts had a combined population of 10,567.

References

External links