Northlands, North Vancouver: Homes for Sale, Prices, Schools and Daily Life

Northlands lies on the north side of Mount Seymour Parkway, where the streets end and the forest of Mount Seymour begins. Northlands Golf Course fills the middle of the area. West of the course, Northlands Drive climbs from the Parkway and becomes Larkhall Crescent, and Strathaven Drive makes a loop beside Northlands Park. East of the course, Parkgate Avenue and Banff Court hold the shops, the library and the community centre.

The ground rises to the north. Natural Resources Canada's elevation data gives 87 metres above sea level for the Parkway at Northlands Drive, 108 metres where Northlands Drive meets Larkhall Crescent and 148 metres at the upper end of Larkhall Crescent. The golf course end of Anne Macdonald Way is at 140 metres. The Parkway rises 16 metres between Northlands Drive and Parkgate Avenue, so the walk east along it to the shops has little climb.

In our view, Northlands suits a buyer who wants a townhouse with three bedrooms near a library, a community centre, a golf course and forest trails, and who is content with one group of shops. A buyer who wants a choice of restaurants within a short walk will be happier in Lower Lonsdale or beside the Lynn Valley shops.

Mount Seymour Park covers the mountain behind Northlands. BC Parks says the park was established in 1936 and named for Frederick Seymour, Governor of British Columbia from 1864 to 1869.

The land where the golf course stands was first planned for houses. In June 1998 the North Shore News reported that the course's 121 acres sat in the middle of what had been a planned 300 acre neighbourhood with parks, schools and trails. The paper traced the idea of a public course to October 1986, when Don Davis, who worked in insurance, raised it at a Chamber of Commerce lunch. Anne Macdonald, a North Vancouver school trustee, then pressed him to act on it. The two started the North Shore Public Golf Course Society.

The course's own website says it opened for play on October 7, 1996, and that all 18 holes were open in 1997. The 1998 report put the cost of building it at $13.5 million, against a 1989 estimate of $7 million. By then the road to the clubhouse carried Anne Macdonald's name, and the District's street data still calls it Anne Macdonald Way.

Parkgate was built up in the same decade. In October 1990 the North Shore News described a proposal for a 90,000 square foot shopping centre at Mount Seymour Parkway and Mount Seymour Road. The public library's page says its Parkgate branch opened in 1994. In July 1998 the paper reported that work had started on an $8 million, 45,000 square foot community centre beside the library, which District residents had approved in a referendum in November 1996. More than half of the homes this page listed on October 11, 2026 were finished in the 1990s. We found no source that explains who chose the name Northlands.

Daily errands go to Parkgate, at the corner of the Parkway and Mount Seymour Road. The map on this page shows a Safeway, cafes, a library and a community centre there, and OpenStreetMap also marks a pharmacy and a post office. Measured on the District's street data, the Parkway corner at Strathaven Drive is 800 metres west of the corner at Parkgate Avenue, and the corner at Northlands Drive is 1.2 kilometres west of it.

Parkgate Library on Banff Court is a branch of the North Vancouver District Public Library. It opens at 10 a.m. every day and stays open until 8 p.m. from Tuesday to Thursday and until 6 p.m. on the other days. Its page lists a quiet study room, a space for teens and public computers.

Parkgate Community Centre is next door. North Vancouver Recreation and Culture lists a gymnasium there with eight badminton or pickleball courts, two full basketball courts and a climbing wall. The building stays open until 10 p.m. from Monday to Thursday.

Northlands Golf Course is the District's public 18 hole course, reached by Anne Macdonald Way from Mount Seymour Road. The course says it is open to the public in all twelve months of the year. In our experience, the streets off the Parkway are quiet, and the Parkway carries steady traffic toward Deep Cove and Mount Seymour.

The entrance to Mount Seymour Park is on Mount Seymour Road, north of the Parkway, at the east edge of Northlands. BC Parks counts 14 hiking trails in the park. Its Old Buck trailhead, near the park entrance, has parking for the lower mountain trails, an information board and a pit toilet. The photo at the top of this page shows a trail in the park. BC Parks says both hikers and mountain bikers use the lower trails, that bikes must stay on the trails marked for them, and that pets must be on a leash everywhere in the park.

In winter the same road leads to the ski area, which Mt Seymour Resort runs inside the park. BC Parks says a free day-use pass may be needed to park on the mountain in winter, so read its page before a winter visit.

Closer to home, the District's trail data lists a trail it calls Seymour Golf, open to more than one kind of user. OpenStreetMap shows it as the Golf Course Trail, running from the top of the Strathaven Drive loop up the west side of the course. The same District data lists the Bridle Path and the Baden Powell Trail in the forest to the north.

Parkgate Park is at the north end of Parkgate Avenue. The District's park data calls it a community sports park and notes that its gates close at dusk in winter. OpenStreetMap shows ball diamonds, a playground and outdoor exercise equipment there. McCartney Creek Park, a second sports park, lies west of Northlands Drive. Northlands Park and Strathaven Park are both reached from Strathaven Drive. District data requires a leash for dogs in Parkgate Park, Northlands Park and McCartney Creek Park.