Streets and buildings: Abbreviations and numbers

On this page

• Abbreviations with street and building names
• Numbers with street names
• Additional information

Abbreviations with street and building names

The word Building, along with words for different street types (Street, Avenue, Place, Road, Square, Boulevard, Terrace, Drive, Court, Crescent ), should be written in full in the following cases:

• in general writing, especially when they are part of a longer name
  • Three of my five classes are in the Hall Building.
  • I grew up on Pinegrove Road.
• in an address within a letter
  • The Grantham Building
  • 45 Silkwood Crescent
  • 1250 St. Laurent Boulevard

However, these words may be abbreviated in footnotes, endnotes, sidenotes and tables.

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

The list below shows the standard abbreviations used in general writing for words of this type.

In addition, certain street types may be abbreviated in mailing addresses on envelopes and parcels. In an address on an envelope or parcel, no period is used after the abbreviation:

• 136 LARSON ST
• 965 BELMONT AVE
• 25 CUMBERLAND RD

Note: When abbreviating a street type in an address on an envelope or parcel, be sure to use only the mailing abbreviations approved by Canada Post. You can find the approved abbreviations in the section “Symbols and abbreviations: Street types” in Canada Post’s addressing guidelines (opens in new tab).

Numbers with street names

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

Note that in a mailing address on an envelope or parcel, the section “Civic address: Street name” in Canada Post’s addressing guidelines (opens in new tab) calls for use of an ordinal numeral:

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

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

• 107-6807 92nd Avenue North [address within a letter]
• 107-6807 92ND AVE N [address on an envelope or parcel]

Additional information

• Addresses: Addresses in letters or other documents
• Addresses: Addresses on envelopes and parcels

Other resources

• Addressing guidelines (opens in new tab) (Canada Post)