High above a dusk cloud deck — the last light of sunset on the clouds, the descent to 35 Bel-Aire Place about to begin.

35 Bel-Aire Place

An architectural estate above the Glenmore Reservoir

The Residence

On one of Bel-Aire's largest lots — a private half-acre backing onto the Glenmore Reservoir lands — stands a residence of glass, cedar and stone, built to hold the evening light.

Designed and delivered by Rockwood Custom Homes in 2018, 35 Bel-Aire Place is a study in modern contemporary architecture at estate scale: cantilevered rooflines traced in light, a double-height glass entry, and a floor plan that moves — through a glass elevator, past a suspended oak staircase, out to a covered outdoor room built for Calgary's four seasons.

Six bedrooms and seven bathrooms across three finished levels, with five thousand square feet above grade. Every principal room faces the trees, the water, or both.

Bedrooms
6
Bathrooms
7
Above grade
5,000 sq ft
Lot
0.5 acre
Completed
2018
Offered
Price upon request
The estate from above — the Glenmore Reservoir and river valley beyond

The Architecture

Light,
held in place.

The house reads as a composition of floating planes — flat rooflines cantilevered over walls of glass, their soffits lined in cedar and traced with a continuous ribbon of light. By day the volumes are quiet: smoke-grey stucco, warm timber, black steel. At dusk the architecture performs.

A close twilight portrait of the two-storey glass entry corner, revealing the interior staircase, gallery art wall, and starburst chandelier beneath a cedar-lined canopy studded with pot lights.
The double-height glass entry
A low evening angle at the front steps where a crisp ribbon of LED light traces the cedar entry canopy above stone planter walls spilling with red cannas.
A ribbon of light traces the entry canopy

“Architecture should feel inevitable — as if the site had been waiting for exactly this house.”

The rear elevation glowing at dusk, a glass-railed main terrace stacked above a string-lit walkout patio, with stacked-stone piers and stucco volumes stepping against the starry sky.
Stacked terraces step toward the reservoir lands
A wide evening panorama of the entertaining level, dining chairs and brass-based stools in the foreground and the navy-and-coral living room glowing against indigo windows beyond.
The entertaining level at dusk — living, dining and kitchen in one continuous room

The Entertaining Level

Made for the
long table.

The main floor is one continuous gesture: a double-island kitchen in mitred marble, a live-edge walnut table beneath a halo chandelier, and a great room wrapped in glass that turns indigo at dusk. A backlit wine wall carries the evening from one end of the room to the other.

The double-island kitchen with thick-mitred marble counters, black leather and brass stools, a sculptural stainless hood over shimmering mosaic tile, and a built-in Miele coffee centre.
Twin marble islands and a built-in Miele coffee centre
Floating oak stairs with a walnut-capped glass railing climb past the glass elevator cab under a starburst chandelier, with a vivid multi-armed goddess painting anchoring the landing wall.
Floating white-oak treads wrap the glass elevator

The Stair & Elevator

A vertical
gallery.

At the centre of the house, white-oak treads float on steel and glass, spiralling around a fully glazed elevator that serves all three levels. It is circulation as sculpture — a lantern of movement visible from the front drive the moment the light falls.

The upper landing at dusk, where the polished glass elevator shaft meets deep-blue clerestory windows, a silver starburst pendant and wide-plank oak floors running toward the laundry room.
The upper landing against cobalt twilight glazing
The primary bedroom at twilight, with a floor-to-ceiling channel-tufted leather headboard flanked by backlit brass mirrors, a bubble-glass chandelier and glass doors opening to a private terrace with treetop views.
The primary bedroom opens to its own twilight terrace

The Primary Suite

The private
floor.

The primary suite occupies its own quiet territory: a channel-tufted leather wall, backlit brass, and glass doors to a private terrace in the treetops. Beyond, a spa ensuite — steam shower wrapped in agate-swirl porcelain, a soaker tub set against the evergreens — and a boutique dressing room with its own island.

The primary ensuite with a glass-walled steam shower clad in agate-swirl porcelain, a quartz soaker tub beneath a twilight window, floating vanities and a sputnik chandelier over book-matched marbled floors.
Agate-clad steam shower in the spa ensuite
A glass-enclosed climate wine room displaying hundreds of bottles on cable-tension racks beside backlit whisky shelving, with the media lounge and its purple velvet chairs beyond.
The glass wine room, cable-racked and climate controlled

The Lower Level

The evening
floor.

Downstairs is built for the hours after dinner. A glass-enclosed wine room holds hundreds of bottles on cable racks; a marble waterfall bar pours for the media lounge; a gym, guest suites and a games lounge complete the level — with the walkout patio and lawn just beyond the glass.

The home bar in full: illuminated glass-front spirit displays on a storm-grey marble backsplash, espresso machine and sink, television, and a dramatic marble waterfall island with three stools.
The bar — storm-grey marble and backlit spirits
From above the rear elevation at dusk, the two-storey covered outdoor living room glows between stone columns, overlooking the terraced walkout patio and striped lawn.

Outdoor Living

A room with
no walls at all.

The covered outdoor living room is the home's quiet thesis: that a Calgary evening belongs outside. A limestone fireplace and built-in grill anchor one wall; infrared heaters warm the cedar ceiling above a dining table for eight. Folding glass doors dissolve the boundary to the kitchen, so the party moves without ever deciding to.

Beyond it, the half-acre unfolds in terraces — sculpted stone, mature evergreens, a striped lawn descending toward the Glenmore parkland. A roof terrace and a private balcony off the primary suite keep the skyline and the water in view.

The covered outdoor living room at dusk, where a slatted dining table for eight sits before a stone fireplace wall with built-in grill, stainless hood and cushioned lounge seating under a beamed cedar ceiling.
The covered outdoor room — fireplace, grill, heated cedar ceiling
An expansive private roof terrace at deep dusk, its porcelain-tile deck wrapped by a solid parapet with glass wind screen and a warm cedar soffit overhead, city lights flickering on the horizon.
The roof terrace at deep dusk

The Builder

Built by Rockwood
Custom Homes

Some names carry weight in Calgary's estate districts, and Rockwood Custom Homes is one of the few that carries it quietly. Founded in 2009 by Allison Grafton — an investment banker who traded capital markets for craftsmanship — the firm designs and delivers its homes with one integrated team: architecture, interiors, construction and client care under a single roof.

The discipline shows. Rockwood has been named one of Canada's Best Managed Companies by Deloitte every year since 2020, was a national finalist at the 2024 CHBA Awards for best detached custom home over 5,000 square feet, and counts more than seventy industry honours across its portfolio of estate homes in Bel-Aire, Britannia, Mount Royal and beyond.

For the owner of this home, that pedigree is not a footnote. It is the reason the rooflines still read crisp, the millwork still sits flush, and the house feels as considered today as the day it was handed over.

  • 2009 Founded by Allison Grafton
  • 6× Deloitte Canada's Best Managed Companies, 2020–present
  • 70+ Industry awards & honours
  • 2024 CHBA national finalist, custom homes over 5,000 sq ft
The glass elevator shaft rises beside floating white-oak stair treads and walnut newel posts, framed by twilight-blue windows and a wide-plank oak hallway with gallery millwork.
Floating oak, glass and steel — craft at full scale

The Community

Bel-Aire keeps
its own company.

There are exclusive addresses, and then there are communities so small they are effectively private. Bel-Aire is a third of a square kilometre holding roughly one hundred and forty-five households — every one of them a single detached home. Established in 1960 between the Calgary Golf & Country Club and the Glenmore Reservoir, it remains what it was designed to be: a quiet enclave of estate lots, mature trees and unhurried streets, ten minutes from downtown.

The numbers tell the story politely. Household incomes here run nearly three times the city median. Homes trade hands perhaps two or three times a year — many never reach the open market at all. When Calgary's top luxury home sales are tallied each year, Bel-Aire is reliably on the list.

And the geography does the rest: the private golf club across the north boundary, the reservoir's pathways and sailing water to the west, the Britannia shops — Sunterra Market, Monogram Coffee, Village Ice Cream, Native Tongues — a few minutes north, and Chinook Centre a few minutes east. Elboya School, William Reid and Western Canada High serve the community, with Clear Water Academy and Lycée Louis Pasteur close by.

  • ~145 Households — one of Calgary's smallest communities
  • 100% Single detached homes, most on quarter-acre-plus lots
  • 3× Calgary's median household income
  • 2–3 Homes sold in a typical year
A wider aerial situates the residence on its quiet Bel-Aire cul-de-sac, the Glenmore dam and reservoir spread out directly behind the property.

The cul-de-sac from above — the Glenmore dam and reservoir spread out directly behind the property

The Setting

Everything close.
Nothing near.

Bel-Aire sits in the still centre of Calgary's inner southwest — wrapped by golf course and reservoir, minutes from everything the city considers essential, and insulated from all of it.

  1. Adjacent Calgary Golf & Country Club Alberta’s oldest private course, at the community’s north edge
  2. Steps away Glenmore Reservoir pathways Sailing water, river valley trails and parkland behind the property
  3. 4 min Britannia shops Sunterra Market, Monogram Coffee, Village Ice Cream, Owl’s Nest Books
  4. 5 min Chinook Centre Calgary’s premier shopping destination
  5. 10–15 min Downtown Calgary Most residents commute in under fifteen minutes
  6. 5–10 min Schools Elboya (K–9), William Reid, Western Canada High; Clear Water Academy and Lycée Louis Pasteur nearby

Private Showings

Some homes are
shown, not listed.

35 Bel-Aire Place is presented by private appointment. For a personal showing, a full information package, or a conversation about the residence, reach out directly — every inquiry is handled discreetly.

or call (403) 804-2724