streets and buildings: abbreviations and numbers

In general writing, spell out words such as Street, Avenue, Place, Road, Square, Boulevard, Terrace, Drive, Court, Crescent, Station and Building.

• Three of my five classes are in the Hall Building.
• I grew up on Pinegrove Road.

However, always spell out these words when they form part of a longer name.

• It’s a short walk from the Vancouver City Centre Station.
• Meet me outside the Toronto Star Building at 6 p.m. sharp.

It is acceptable to abbreviate words such as Street, Avenue, Place, Road, Square, Boulevard, Terrace, Drive, Court, Crescent, Station and Building in footnotes, endnotes, sidenotes, tables and addresses.

• 45 Silkwood Cres.
• 1250 St. Laurent Blvd.

The list below shows the abbreviations for the above words.

Street and avenue designations up to and including Tenth are often spelled out, especially when this helps to prevent confusion with the building number. However, it is best to use the official name of the street (whether Tenth or 10th) as designated by the municipality:

• 9511 Tenth Avenue
• 1149 10th Avenue

If the street name is written in numerals, modern usage tends to favour cardinal rather than ordinal numbers:

• 96 Ave.
• 101 St.

However, note that in a mailing address, Canada Post’s Addressing Guidelines call for use of an ordinal numeral:

• 9511 10TH AVENUE
• 96TH AV
• 101ST ST

In abbreviated form, apartment or suite numbers are written before the building number and are followed by a hyphen:

• 107–6807 92 Ave. N.

Identify floors of a building as follows:

• 11th floor, L’Esplanade Laurier

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