Queen Elizabeth

Highly popular and brimming with life, Queen Elizabeth is a mature Saskatoon neighbourhood in south-central Saskatoon, home to about 2,600 people. Mostly developed after World War II, it offers a wide variety of housing types, the majority being single-family detached homes, and an average home price of just over $320,000.

The land for the neighbourhood was annexed by the city between 1910 and 1919. During the speculative real estate market between 1909 and 1912, ambitious developers had a local lumber company build three stately brick homes in 1906, 1908 and 1910 York Avenue (at the intersection with Taylor Street). Though they were far away from the city core, developers anticipated that residential buildings would soon expand outward quickly. Foundations for other houses nearby were built but abruptly abandoned as a recession took hold in 1913. Meanwhile, the homes became known as the "Three Sisters" and were landmarks for travellers. The city eventually developed the land near the houses in around 1953. The northmost "sister" was demolished to make way for Fire Station #3 - the two remaining homes survive to the present day.

The portion of the community bounded by Broadway and Melrose avenues and Isabella and Hilliard streets was originally marketed in the early 1950s under the name Broadacres. In 1953, newspaper advertisements promoted Broadacres as Saskatoon's first "controlled subdivision" (today's term being "master-planned community"). Lot buyers were initially required to agree to certain development regulations, including a minimum 900-square-foot main floor footprint on homes and no front fencing. It kept the Broadacres name into the late 1950s.