Bloor West Vil­lage is one of Toronto’s most pop­u­lar neigh­bour­hoods. Bloor West Vil­lage spans from Run­nymede Road across to Jane Street, and from Bloor Street north to Annette Street. Baby Point is the fin­ger of land that extends into the Hum­ber River Valley.

Bloor West Vil­lage is known for its the quaint shops that line Bloor Street, with more Euro­pean Style deli’s, cof­fee shops, it’s own the­atre House, and quick sub­way access to down­town. It’s a beau­ti­ful com­mu­nity with charm­ing turn of the cen­tury homes.

While all the activ­ity on Bloor is cer­tainly an attrac­tion, homes in Bloor West Vil­lage are them­selves the impe­tus for so many to want to live in the com­mu­nity.  Built in the early 1900′s, most Bloor West Vil­lage homes are Edwar­dian or Tudor influ­enced, with lots of wood trim and accents through­out.  Solid oak stair­cases and big front porches are main­stays in these houses, which are typ­i­cally four-bedroom, two-storey, and detached in design.

Bloor West Vil­lage Real Estate Map

Baby Point, just west of Jane, is a small enclave of upscale homes that many home buy­ers asso­ciate with Bloor West Vil­lage.  The most dis­tinc­tive Baby Point homes are quite regal in appear­ance, resem­bling old Eng­lish manor houses.  The hilly and wind­ing roads of Baby Point jut into the Hum­ber River Val­ley, pro­vid­ing many prop­er­ties with a scenic vista of the Hum­ber Ravine from their backyards.

Bloor West Vil­lage is a pop­u­lar neigh­bour­hood for fam­i­lies. It is within walk­ing dis­tance of High Park – Toronto’s biggest and best known park, fea­tur­ing a 399 acre park­land con­tain­ing pic­nic areas, flower gar­dens, ani­mal pad­docks, a restau­rant, an out­door amphithe­atre, sports facil­i­ties, a track­less train, an adven­ture play­ground and a large pond.

In the 1850′s, the area now known as Bloor West Vil­lage was the prop­erty of Lieu­tenant Colonel William Smith Durie, the first com­mand­ing offi­cer of the Queens Own Rifles. The street that ran through his estate is now known as Durie Street.

Stores Along Bloor Street West

The present day neigh­bour­hood began to be devel­oped in 1909 when this dis­trict became part of the City of Toronto. Bloor West’s first res­i­dents were immi­grants of East­ern Euro­pean back­ground. These are the res­i­dents who helped found the Bloor West Vil­lage Busi­ness Improve­ment Area, the first of its kind in Canada. This shop­ping dis­trict has helped make Bloor West Vil­lage one of Toronto’s most pop­u­lar neigh­bour­hoods – fam­ily friendly and home to many highly-regarded pub­lic schools.

Another appeal­ing fea­ture of this mature tree-lined neigh­bour­hood is the hous­ing stock. Typ­i­cal orig­i­nal prop­er­ties in the Bloor West Vil­lage were built in 1912 –1923 within a short time range. Unlike the sub­urbs with their cookie cut­ter houses, these brick homes are still sim­i­lar, often influ­enced with the Amer­i­can crafts­man style. There are a num­ber of semi-detached prop­er­ties blended amongst the detached with many of them fea­tur­ing the deep front porches from yes­ter­year. Sit­ting on your front veranda sip­ping your cof­fee, enjoy­ing your neigh­bours and watch­ing the kids play is just a way of life here.

Through­out the years, many of the prop­er­ties have become quite ren­o­vated from top to bot­tom with some addi­tions extend­ing the actual liv­ing space. Each unique upgrade and ren­o­va­tion helps main­tain the orig­i­nal­ity of these homes today. The major­ity of these prop­er­ties are two storeys, but on cer­tain streets you can find some bun­ga­lows or three storey homes. It has recently become more com­mon to see some of the older build­ings being replaced with mod­ern cus­tom builds, so that there is a blend of the new and old.

Bloor West Vil­lage Real Estate

Being ide­ally located in the west part of Toronto, the Bloor West Vil­lage is also con­ve­niently sit­u­ated close to the lake­front with easy high­way access which can whisk you quickly either down­town Toronto or to the air­port. Being in such a great urban locale, you can also choose to alter­nately use the Billy Bishop Toronto City Air­port for addi­tional con­ve­nience from the core of the city. Liv­ing amongst these well groomed leafy streets, fab­u­lous shops and solid prop­erty val­ues are only some of the rea­sons that keep buy­ers flock­ing to this area from across the city and local res­i­dents stay­ing in this pocket when they move.

Pri­vate dri­ve­ways are a rar­ity in this area and usu­ally you’ll find mutual dri­ve­ways, front pad park­ing or laneways. Many res­i­dents use street parking.

The Jane and Run­nymede sub­way sta­tions are part of the Bloor-Danforth sub­way line and both are within walk­ing dis­tance of the homes in Bloor West Vil­lage. The Annette Street bus con­nects pas­sen­gers to the Dupont sub­way sta­tion on the Yonge-University-Spadina sub­way line. There are addi­tional bus routes on Jane Street and Run­nymede Road. Motorists are approx­i­mately ten min­utes from the Gar­diner Express­way and Lake Shore Boule­vard. Both these routes pro­vide quick access into and out of the city.