Downtown Toronto
Hillcrest Village
Located on the ridge of the Davenport escarpment between St Clair and Davenport Road west of Bathurst, Hillcrest Village contains many significant houses that have been restored as well as gems that require renovations.. A number of these houses could be restored to their original architectural beauty of the early 20th century with some creativity and energy. The streets surrounding Hillcrest Park are home to houses that would be impossible to recreate. Bracondale Hill, Braemore Gardens, Hillcrest Drive, Turner Ave, Conrad Ave and Frank Crescent all contain solid houses on large lots. The patina on these buildings cannot be reproduced and builders can't or won't add the slight off-kilter aspects that are seen in century homes.
Nor are the houses repeated in patterns such as in neighbourhoods
like Leaside or Allenby. Each house, though part of a cohesive
neighbourhood, was created differently than the adjacent one.
The surprise in the area is Wychwood Park, containing
one circular road with a couple of off-shoots hosting mostly
English Arts and Crafts homes, many designed by architect
Eden Smith. It is worth a walk through this private area just
to see the ancient oaks towering over and protecting the houses form the elements.
This is one of my favourite areas in the city.
Other noteworthy streets in Hillcrest are Alcina Avenue, Burlington Crescent, Burnside Drive and Tyrrel Avenue. Each has it's own character with a mixture of styles that make you feel like you're in a different city, mostly within a 15 minute drive from downtown. Many conveniences are located nearby on St Clair with a new Loblaws and Liquor Store in the same building that houses the St Clair West subway station. Many mom and pop shops populate the St Clair strip between Bathurst and Oakwood selling fruit and vegetables, children's goods, and a large variety of wares. Restaurants like Mezzetta, Ferro, Urban Thai, the Rushton and various fast food shops dot the stretch. Hillcrest park and a new park on Wychwood called the Wychwood Carbarns Park are the 2 largest ones in Hillcrest Village but you are not too far from the expansive Winston Churchill park, Cedarvale park and Christie pits if you need larger spaces. The WCB park will house a farmer's market (see The Green Barns Farmers Market site ) as well as many other treats for the community when completed in 2008 or early 2009. See the Artscape Wychwood Barns site for updates.
Humewood
Humewood is located north of Hillcrest Village and St Clair west of Bathurst. The Toronto Star recently rated Humewood as a neighbourhood to watch with regards to first-time homebuyers. Toronto Life also recognizes it as an area to watch. Generally, the tree-lined streets are home to modest semi-detached houses, bungalows and smaller detached houses. The southern blocks of Pinewood Ave, Humewood Drive, Rushton Road and Wychwood Ave set the standard for the neighbourhood. Humewood Drive curves graciously north of St Clair with Humewood park along the way to Humewood Community School. Walk to Cedarvale Park, a huge ravine form Heath Street ending a few blocks south of Eglinton Ave.
The advantages of the area include its proximity to a vibrant
St Clair West which will be undergoing various upgrades including
a possible TTC right-of-way. The St Clair West subway station
is close by in a building with a huge Loblaws, a liquor store
and various convenient shops. A ten minute drive will take
you to the south end of the Allen Expressway connecting to
the 401 and out of the city all the while being as close as
15 minutes from Yonge and Queen.. The prices decrease the further
north and west into the area. The best part is closer to St Clair, more or less north of Christie St.
Humewood is a great place to raise a family in an affordable
neighbourhood on the rise. Your input could payoff since there are many homes around
that could use some TLC. All in all a good bet for the future.
Trinity Bellwoods
Trinity-Bellwoods provides affordable housing
to people who want to live downtown on streets with a neighbourhood
feel. Bound by Queen St, Dundas St, Bathurst St and Ossington
Avenue, the houses are primarily semi-detached homes many
from the Edwardian era. Many of the houses surround the large
Trinity-Bellwoods Park which used to be the location of Trinity
College, now on the grounds of the University of Toronto.
Evidence of its past can be seen at the corner of Queen St
and Strachan Ave where the gates from the grounds frame the
south entrance.
A cosmopolitan mix of cultures meet in this neighbourhood
which used to be populated primarily by Italians and Portuguese
immigrants. Now small families, artists and other urbanites who
don't want to be too far from downtown are purchasing the
homes. The neighbourhood houses are increasing in value along
with the reinvention of Queen St West, which now sports multi-cultural
restaurants, higher end coffee shops and clothing stores for
the bold.
I consider the sweet spot in the area to be on Crawford Street
between Queen and Dundas, which bounds the park and is home
to some fantastic bay and peak Victorians.
Queen Street West is also home to the Candy Factory Lofts, a factory retrofit and many soft-lofts.
The Annex
The Annex contains some of the finest examples
of Victorian era architecture in the city. A few of the streets
such as Admiral Road, Elgin Ave and Boswell Ave are home to
houses that match Rosedale for grandeur and detail. Other
grand houses have been divided into flats to accommodate high-end
character rentals downtown. Due to its proximity to the University
of Toronto, a portion of the stock of grand homes have become
frat houses or multi-room dwellings for students, many of
which still retain the elements so desired by high-end renovators
end-users of homes with historical significance.
Some of the appeal of the Annex has to do with the entertainment
strip along Bloor in between Avenue Road and Bathurst . There
you will find hotels, The Royal Ontario Museum (see Libeskind
on the links page) and a wide variety of restaurants. The
northern border of the Annex is Dupont St, which is developing
at a good pace with a new liquor store with a Vintages section,
a 'designer' Loblaws and some good specialty shops dealing
with antiques, computers and a few restaurants.
Wells Hill
The Wells Hill area is also known as part of Casa Loma, Forest Hill or South Hill depending on who's talking. What we do know is that the neighbourhood, most of which is a bit of a secret, contains some dream houses for more than a few people. Most of the neighbourhood is setup so you can't drive through it. One wouldn't drive on these streets unless they were your destination. The neighbourhood is filled with Edwardian, Georgian, Tudor and a mix of other homes most of which make a statement for their owners. Well treed and mostly private (except the streets too near the Casa Loma Museum) the houses in the area range from $650,000 to 2.5 million. The area is adjacent to many conveniences such as Churchill park, St Clair West subway in the Loblaws complex all the while within a short drive to most of the downtown core. A drive down Wells Hill or Lyndhurst Avenue will have you thinking about your future in this neighbourhood when you cash in your stocks. Austin Terrace and Hilton also have some beautiful homes. Again, it is a mix of cohesive styles without too many outcasts in between. Hillcrest Community School provides respectable schooling in a building with stature, which has been well maintained.
Seaton Village
West of the Annex between Bloor and Davenport along to the Christie Pits.