Tag Archives: university of toronto
South Annex
The South Annex neighbourhood was subdivided in the early 1850′s, on land formerly owned by the Jarvis, Crookshank and Denison families; all of whom played a prominent role in the history of Toronto.
The South Annex is a vibrant and colourful downtown Toronto neighbourhood. Much of the South Annex’s vitality comes from being located right next door to the University of Toronto.
Naturally, many University students, faculty, and alumni rent or own houses in the South Annex. The University population mixes well with the young urban professionals who have been buying and fixing up South Annex houses, giving these old houses new life, and in the process revitalizing this historic Toronto neighbourhood.
South Annex Real Estate Map
The South Annex neighbourhood has long been overlooked by Toronto homebuyers. Those who had the foresight to buy homes here in the past are now been richly rewarded as this neighbourhood is now in big demand.
South Annex is appreciating at an alarming pace – some properties south of Bloor are now going for over $1 million. This would have been unheard of a few years ago. Being in the heart of the U of T district, this area will always maintain its value and continue to exceed most other neighbourhoods.
Sales in the South Annex tend to be few and far between, as inventory is tight. This lack of supply coupled with great demand is one reason why home prices in this neighbourhood are on the rise. An average of only 2 semi-detached and rowhomes sell in a given month – for just under $1 million. Maybe one detached house sells every two months – and such rare and premium properties sell for close to a million and a half.
Home buyers are flocking to the South Annex neighbourhood for many reasons. The area attracts people looking to be within walking distance of shops, cafes, Harbord Village, Chinatown, Kensington market, Korea Town, JCC, U of T, excellent schools, the ROM, book stores, fine dining etc. There are lots of large single family homes for those with big families looking for a sense of community, as well as professional couples looking to start a family in this vibrant neighbourhood. There are also many investment properties in the area, which makes sense given the large and ever expanding U of T student population.
Houses in the South Annex
South Annex homes tend to sell in two to three weeks. Since there is never much available, it does not stay on the market for long. Housing stock is mixed with single family, duplex and multi-unit homes. The South Annex has a strong appeal to buyers due to its strong resident’s association and community involvement.
If you love Victorian architecture you will love the South Annex – which is chalk full of character homes. Interior details include high ceilings, stained glass windows, beautiful fireplace mantels, plaster mouldings and ceiling medallions, tall baseboard trim, radiators with scroll designs and hardwood floors. Exteriors are defined by Victorian gables and some houses have front porches and maybe even an original slate roof.
Public transit is always close by so you don’t need a car. However, many homes come with some form of parking whether it be a driveway or parking pad, or even a laneway at the rear. There is also permit parking available with certain houses on specific streets, but this is best to check with the City first.
If you’re planning on buying a home in the South Annex, do your homework. Have your financing in place and be ready to go when your dream home comes on the market – you will not have long to make a decision and move on it. Be diligent about home & termite inspections, be aware of where the house is located (on a heritage designated street, next to student housing, near a main street or bar).
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Grange Park
Grange Park is a small downtown neighbourhood bounded to the west by Spadina Avenue, College Street on the north, University Avenue to the east and on the south by Queen Street West. It is within the Kensington–Chinatown official City of Toronto district; its name is derived from the Grange Park public park south of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
The Grange Park neighbourhood has become synonymous with Toronto’s Chinatown district. Grange Park’s street signs, telephone booths – and even the local police station – all have signage in Chinese as well as English. Grange Park is also home to a large number of artists – which makes sense considering The Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario Crafts Council and Ontario College of Art are all located in Grange Park.
Grange Park’s narrow tree-lined streets are full of ornate Victorian row houses, most built in the 1870s through to the 1890s. These houses feature all the Victorian trimmings. You will find many homes rented out to students of the Ontario College of Art & Design, located on McCaul Street, as well as the University of Toronto to the north.
Grange Park Real Estate Map
Condo buyers should check out Village-by-the-Grange. Built in 1980, this is one of Toronto’s first mixed use developments. It features condos, retail and offices, all in the same complex. This city landmark is currently being revitalized by the Grangetown development which will incorporate urban townhouses into the Village-by-the-Grange.
South of Village-by-the-Grange is the Beaver Hall Artist’s Co-op. Beaver Hall has 24 apartments and a large communal studio space. It was designed to provide local artists with affordable live and work space.
In the western section of Grange Park, the businesses of Chinatown extend east from Spadina along Dundas to nearly Beverly, while the streets remain residential.
The homes on the east side of McCaul Street were demolished and the Village by the Grange residential and commercial complex was built. It was built in 1980, and was a rare example in Toronto of a low rise apartment complex; there are mixed commercial uses being built after several decades of high rise apartment building construction in the downtown core.
The Art Gallery of Ontario and OCAD
There is a commercial enclave that has developed around Baldwin Avenue, between Beverley and McCaul Street. It has been named “Baldwin Village”; it is a converted residences housing, restaurants, art stores and curios. The residences of the north side of Dundas Street have all been converted into art galleries.
Grange Park was Toronto’s first elite neighbourhood. It is named after Grange House, built in 1817, by D’Arcy Boulton Jr., a member of one of early Toronto’s wealthiest and most prominent families. Grange House is now part of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the mansions on Beverley Street are the sole reminders of this neighbourhood’s period of affluence.
In the late 1800s, Grange Park’s upper class gentry headed for the newer more fashionable suburbs in Parkdale, Rosedale and the Annex. By the early 1900s, Grange Park’s large estates had been transformed into rows of modest workers’ houses that became home to many new Canadians.
Jewish immigrants were followed by Eastern Europeans and most recently the Chinese; who migrated to Grange Park after Toronto’s first Chinatown at Dundas and Elizabeth Street was razed in the 1960′s, to make room for the new City Hall.
Grange Park is great neighbourhood in Toronto, and it holds some of the greatest art galleries in Ontario. Anyone living in this neighbourhood should be proud to be surrounded by such history.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Incoming search terms
The Annex
The Annex is one of Toronto’s oldest neighbourhoods and its first streetcar suburb, characterized by its distinctive tall narrow houses and lively community along Bloor Street. Considered a food and shopping mecca, this district is well known by Torontonians as one of the friendliest neighbourhoods in the city.
Due to the proximity of the neighbourhood to the University of Toronto and Central Technical School with it’s famous art school The Art Centre – there is a large population of students and faculty, the commercial strip along Bloor Street has quite the feel of a college neighbourhood (albeit an affluent one). Most of the commercial activity in the neighbourhood takes place along Bloor St, which is filled with small restaurants, pubs and bookshops.
The side streets are generally residential, with tall, narrow townhouses to the south of Bloor and large, stately mansions to the north. The borders of the neighbourhood are, to some extent, debatable, however, less so than many other neighbourhoods in the city. The eastern and western boundaries are generally agreed to be Avenue Road and Bathurst Street respectively… and the southern boundary is generally agreed to be Harbord Street. It is the northern boundary, however, that is in question.
Generally, the northern boundary is considered to be Dupont Street, due to the fact that the area immediately north of Dupont, on either side of the railway tracks, is a largely industrial area, which is not in keeping with the general view of the Annex as being a neighbourhood of stately homes and quaint bookshops.
The Annex
The Annex is mainly residential, with tree-lined one-way streets lined with Victorian and Edwardian homes and mansions, most of them built between 1880 and the early 1900s. The 1950s and 1960s saw the replacement of some homes and mansions with mid-rise and a handful of high-rise apartment buildings. These were surrounded with landscaped green spaces in an attempt to better fit into the neighbourhood.
Most Annex houses built between 1880 and 1910 are fine examples of Victorian, Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque architectural styles. Plum and pink colored Credit River sandstone, rich red brick and terra cotta clay tiles make up the exterior facades of many of these homes.
The architectural detail is among the finest in the city, ranging from pyramidal roofs and turrets to recessed grand archways and wooden spindled porches. There are more than a few coffee table books devoted solely to photos of the house in The Annex.
A second wave of Annex homes dates from 1910 to 1930. These homes are less elaborate than their predecessors, but are nonetheless fine examples of English Cottage, Georgian and Tudor style architecture.
Some of architect Uno Prii’s most expressive, sculptural apartment buildings are located in The Annex. Because of its proximity to the university, The Annex has a high rate of seasonal tenant turnover, and its residents range from university students to older long-time residents.
Houses in The Annex
The stretch of Bloor Street between St. George and Bathurst is a vibrant social and mixed use area, offering a wide range of services from upscale dining to discount retailers like Honest Ed’s, in buildings which often include residential space in upper floors. The stretch of Bloor between Bathurst and Christie is Toronto’s Koreatown. During the 1950s and 1960s, an influx of Hungarian immigrants moved into the neighbourhood after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was suppressed, and many of the businesses and properties along Bloor are owned by Hungarian-Canadian families.
The Annex is home to many examples of a uniquely Torontontonian style of house that was popular among the city’s elite in the late nineteenth century. Examples of this style survive in the former upper class areas along Jarvis and Sherbourne Street and also within the University of Toronto campus. Most of these buildings are found in The Annex, and the style is thus known as the “Annex Style House”.
The original conception is attributed to E.J. Lennox, the most prominent architect in late nineteenth century Toronto (old City Hall). His 1887 design for the home of contractor Lewis Lukes at 37 Madison Avenue introduced a design that would be imitated and modified for the next two decades.
The Annex style house borrows elements from both the American Richardson Romanesque and the British Queen Anne Style. Annex style houses typically feature large rounded Romanesque arches along with Queen Anne style decorative items such as turrets. Attics are emphasized in the exterior architecture. The houses are most often made of brick, though some also incorporate Credit Valley Sandstone. Built for many of the city’s wealthiest citizens, the houses are also large. As the wealthy moved away from the neighbourhood, many of the houses were thus subdivided into apartments.
Annex Style House
European settlement of this area began in the 1790s when surveyors laid out York Township. The area east of Brunswick Avenue became part of the village of Yorkville, while the region west of Brunswick was part of Seaton Village. In 1883, Yorkville agreed to annexation with the City of Toronto. In 1886, Simeon Janes, a developer, created a subdivision which he called the Toronto Annex. The Annex area became part of Toronto in 1887 and Seaton Village joined Toronto in 1888.
First residents of the area included Timothy Eaton, patriarch of the Eatons Department Store, and George Gooderham, president of Gooderham & Worts Distillery. The Annex’s first Golden Era lasted until the early 1900s, when the upper classes began to migrate northward above the Davenport escarpment to newer more fashionable suburbs in Forest Hill and Lawrence Park.
In the 1960s, the proposed Spadina Expressway would have divided the Annex in half. Annex area residents, along with other resident groups, successfully opposed its construction.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Incoming search terms
