NORTH

One of Toronto's most exclusive addresses (located East of Avenue Road, West of Yonge Street, North of Davisville Avenue and South of Eglinton Avenue), Chaplin Estates remains one of the most sought after locations for the discriminating buyer. Homeowners in Chaplin Estates enjoy exclusive shops, parks and architecture dating back to the 1920s. There are also many public and exclusive private schools in the area, many of which have a very stringent acceptance policy. 

The public schools include:

John Fisher Jr. School
Eglinton Public School
Allenby Jr. School
Forest Hill Jr. & Sr. School
Deer Park Jr. & Sr. School
John Ross Robertson Jr. School
North Toronto Collegiate Institute
Marshall McLuhan Secondary School
Northern Secondary School
Forest Hill Collegiate Institute
Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute
Leaside High School
Vaughan Road Academy

The Chaplin Estates neighbourhood began with a plan of subdivision, registered by William John Chaplin and his son James D. Chaplin, who had been landowners in this area dating back to 1860. Chaplin Estates was marketed as a high class residential district. The developers included a long list of building restrictions and zoning bylaws in the sale of each property. There were no semi-detached houses allowed, and stucco exteriors were not to cover more than half the house. Most of the lots were sold between 1921 and 1925 and the majority of its houses were built in the 1920's and 1930's, and include many fine examples of Tudor, Georgian, and English Cottage style architecture.

Today Chaplin Estates' two and three storey detached houses, situated on premium lots with private driveways, are in high demand and short supply. Values for single family detached dwellings range from $500,000 to $1,500,000.

Chaplin Estates residents are within walking distance of 'The Eglinton Way' shopping district along Eglinton Avenue West. This ritzy shopping area includes high-end fashion boutiques, gourmet food shops, professional offices, restaurants, and the 'Eglinton' movie theatre. Cafes in nearby Forest Hill Village are a popular choice with coffee lovers looking for a midday treat.

The Yonge street shopping district is also within walking distance of Chaplin Estates. This highly visible shopping area includes many one-of-a-kind stores, and trendy restaurants that draw customers from all over the city. There are also great neighbourhood pubs such as The Blue Meaney at 2140 Yonge Street that cater to the professional crowd who visit to unwind with a microbrewed pint.

Chaplin Estates has a number of recreation opportunities. The ultra modern North Toronto Memorial Community Centre at 200 Eglinton Ave E. has an indoor and outdoor pool, water slides, a gymnasium, a walking track, and exercise rooms. Eglinton Park, adjacent to the community centre, includes: a baseball diamond, tennis courts, a wading pool and an artificial ice hockey rink. 

Other parks within easy access of the Chaplin Estates neighbourhood include:

Lawrence Park
Blythwood Ravine
Sherwood Park
Sunnybrook Park
Moore Park Ravine

The Northern District branch of the Toronto Public Library, is located at 40 Orchard View Boulevard. This branch offers programs for seniors, adults, and children. 

Nearby branches include:

Forest Hill, 700 Eglinton Ave W
Mt. Pleasant, 599 Mt. Pleasant Rd
Deer Park, 40 St. Clair Ave E
Locke, 3083 Yonge St.

Of major interest to residents is the historic Beltline trail, a beautiful walking and cycling path easily accessed from Oriole Park, at the south end of the neighbourhood. If you are a dog person, the park is a treasure. Joggers of all type also abound. Chaplin Estates residents can walk to the bus stops on Yonge Street, Eglinton Avenue, Oriole Parkway, and Chaplin Crescent. The Davisville and the Eglinton subway stations are also within walking distance of this neighbourhood. For motorists, the main east-west arterial roadway is Eglinton Avenue. Residents are approximately fifteen minutes from the Allen Expressway, and the Don Valley Parkway. It is only fifteen minutes to downtown via Yonge Street or Avenue Road.

DAVISVILLE VILLAGE is named after John Davis, who immigrated to Canada from Staffordshire, England in 1840 and took an active public role in the community, becoming its largest employer. In fact, the former Davisville Post Office once operated by John Davis and later by his grandson, is still standing on the northeast corner of Yonge & Davisville.

This centrally-located neighbourhood has always been popular with singles, young couples and families for its excellent recreational facilities, outstanding shopping districts, and active nightlife, which includes bars, pubs, restaurants, dinner theatre, clubs, and movie theatres. Business and professional services such as banking, health and dental care, printing, etc. are widely available on Yonge Street between St. Clair and Eglinton Avenue.

The majority of Davisville houses were built in the 1920s and 1930s. The houses west of Mount Pleasant Road are mostly large two and three-storey English Cottage and Edwardian-style homes. The houses east of Mount Pleasant Road are made up primarily of smaller detached and semi-detached houses and bungalows. This part of the neighbourhood also contains a handful of historical homes from the late 1800s, and a growing number of custom built homes.

Davisville Village also contains a number of condo developments located mostly on Merton and Balliol Streets and along Eglinton Avenue.

Davisville's main shopping district is on Mount Pleasant Road. This stretch of stores is highlighted by a large group of antique and collectable shops that attract people from all over the city. Home decorating stores, children's clothing and toy stores, and an excellent selection of restaurants all add to the ambience of this street. Davisville residents also shop on Yonge Street and Bayview Avenue. These two streets contain a plethora of gift shops, clothing and accessory stores, bakeries, cafes and coffee shops.

Notable shopping/dining addresses include:

The Art Shoppe, a 70, 000 sq ft combination gallery/fine furniture/interior design store at 2131 Yonge Street that offers the largest selection of fine furniture in North America.

Paper Moon, a fine stationery store at 2003 Yonge St.

The Bow & Arrow pub, an English style pub at 1954 Yonge St. with an excellent selection of microbrewed beers

Grano Restaurant, a rustic yet elegant Italian restaurant at 2035 Yonge St. offering a very popular antipasto bar and special breads baked on the premises.

Davisville Park is the social and recreational centre of this neighbourhood. During the day, it is a beehive of activity with preschoolers enjoying the Davisville Park playground and wading pool. 

Other parks easily accessed from the Davisville Village neighbourhood include:

David A. Balfour Park
Moore Park Ravine
Lawrence Park
Blythwood Ravine
Sherwood Park
Sunnybrook Park

Davisville Park's six tennis courts are used by the Davisville Tennis Club on evenings and weekends. This club has an active house league and tournament schedule. Adjacent to the tennis courts is the Davisville Park baseball diamond, which is extensively used by children and adult baseball leagues.

Other recreation opportunities in the area include Mooredale House at 146 Crescent Road, and the North Toronto Memorial Arena and Garden at 174 Orchard View Boulevard.

South of this neighbourhood is the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which is a place of great natural beauty containing one of the finest arboretums in North America, large flower gardens, birds and wildlife, and many artistic sculptures and memorials.

Among the many acclaimed local public schools are:

Davisville/Metro School for the Deaf
Maurice Cody School
John Fisher Jr. School
Deer Park Jr & Sr. School
Blythwood School
Rolph Road School
Bessborough Drive School
Northern Secondary
North Toronto C.I.
Lawrence Park C.I.
Mark Garneau C.I.
Forest Hill C.I.

There is local bus service on Mount Pleasant Road, Yonge Street, Davisville Avenue and Eglinton Avenue. These bus routes connect passengers to the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line. The Davisville and the Eglinton subway stations at Yonge Street are within a reasonable walking distance of this neighbourhood.

This area offers motorists quick access to downtown Toronto via either Mount Pleasant Road or Yonge Street. Toronto's highways and expressways are located within a twenty minute drive of Davisville Village.

The name LEASIDE came from the Lea family, who arrived from Lancashire, England  in 1819. John Lea later built what was claimed to be the first brick house built in  the York township. When John Lea Sr. died in 1854, his son William built an octagonal home on the acreage which he named LEASIDE. It was located close to the present site of the Leaside Memorial Gardens.

The Ontario and Quebec Railway, later taken over by Canadian Pacific, purchased a few acres from William Lea for the line to Peterborough and Ottawa. The Leaside Junction Station was built in 1894. This is when LEASIDE became a name and a location on the map. The Leaside Station was one of Toronto's busiest stations for 75 years.

In 1927 a high level bridge, the LEASIDE VIADUCT, was built across the Don Valley and an underpass was built below the railway line. Residential construction began in the 1930s and continued to the 1950s.

In 1967 The Town of Leaside was amalgamated with East York to become THE BOROUGH OF EAST YORK and in 1997 was amalgamated into the new megacity of TORONTO.

Leaside has retained its sense of community and its real estate is highly valued particularly amongst young families who appreciate its schools and recreational facilities.

Popular local public schools include:Bessborough Drive School
Rolph Road School
Northlea Elementary and Middle School
Leaside High School
Northern Secondary School
Marshall McLuhan Secondary
North Toronto CI
Don Mills CI

Leaside is one of the most popular (and more expensive real estate) districts in Toronto.

Today it is in especially high demand with upper middle income families who regard this neighbourhood as an ideal place to raise children, attracted by the quiet streets, the fine selection of schools already mentioned, one of Toronto's best shopping districts on Bayview Avenue, and excellent access to public transit and the city centre.

Abundant parkland in the neighbourhood includes:

Serena Gundy Park (a local favourite)
David A. Balfour Park

Moore Park Ravine
Flemingdon Park
Sunnybrook Park

The typical Leaside house is situated on a generous lot with a private drive and a garage. Many of the houses contain beautiful wood trim, hardwood floors and a working fireplace.

Leaside's Tudor-style houses were built largely in the 1930s and 1940s. There is a good mix of two-storey detached homes, bungalows, semi-detached houses and new custom-designed homes.

During the 1990s a handful of exclusive condominium and townhouse projects were built on the periphery of the neighbourhood. Bayview Avenue features a wonderful collection of shops and restaurants, many of which are geared towards children (reflecting the demographics of this neighbourhood). Bayview Avenue is also known for its antique shops, specialty stores, and local pubs that attract a clientele from all over the city. Residents also shop at the local stores along Eglinton Avenue. This shopping district is anchored by the Sunnybrook Plaza located at the north-east corner of Bayview and Eglinton. There are also some small shops and services located in the interior of the Leaside neighbourhood on both McRae Drive and Millwood Road.

The Leaside Centre is a collection of large national retailers located at the south-east corner of Laird Drive and Eglinton Avenue. Next to this Centre is the Leaside Business Park which combines light industrial businesses mixed with specialty retail stores.

The Leaside Branch of the Toronto Public Library at 165 McRae Drive, as well as the Mount Pleasant Branch at 599 Mount Pleasant Road, serve resident bibliophiles.

Much of the recreation in Leaside is suited to children and physical activity. The Leaside Memorial Community Gardens at Millwood Road and Laird Drive is a multi-recreational complex that includes an indoor ice arena, an indoor swimming pool, a curling rink and an auditorium.

The Leaside Skating Club is dedicated to teaching the joys and skills of skating to people of all ages. It is sanctioned by Skate Canada and is a non profit organization operated by a volunteer Board of Directors. The Club employs a staff of thirty professional skating coaches who are responsible for all on ice instruction, and an administrator who is responsible for the day to day running of the organization. LSC has operated at the Leaside Arena since 1952 and this season will mark their 60th anniversary. Throughout this time LSC has been and continues to be an integral part of community life. http://www.leasideskatingclub.com/session.html

The Leaside Tennis Club is a very active community tennis club operating in the popular Leaside area of Toronto. Trace Manes Park, between Rumsey Road and McRae Drive. Our members enjoy many well organised activities including Round Robins, (there are four per week), House League and for the more advanced players, Tournaments, Ladies and Intercounty Teams. http://www.leasidetennis.com/?q=node/26

Leaside residents can enjoy nature and fitness activities in Serena Gundy Park and Sunnybrook Park. In addition to offering great picnic spots, Sunnybrook Park features top notch sports fields, an exercise trail, horseback riding stables and a licensed snack bar.

Trace Manes Park, located in south Leaside off McRae Drive is the home of the Leaside Tennis Club which has six tennis courts. Trace Manes Park also has a tots' playground, a baseball diamond and an outdoor natural ice rink which is in use from late December until the end of February. The Leaside Public Library is situated adjacent to this park off McRae Drive.

Howard Talbot Park, situated in a picturesque valley at the south-east corner of Bayview and Eglinton Avenues features two baseball diamonds that are popular with local baseball leagues.

Bus service winds through the interior of the Leaside neighbourhood, south of Eglinton Avenue and connects to the St. Clair subway station on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line. Bus routes on Bayview and Eglinton Avenues connect to the Davisville and Eglinton stations on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line.

Motorists can be downtown in ten minutes via the Bayview extension which also links up with the Don Valley Parkway and a myriad of commuter highways.

This exclusive midtown neighbourhood was subdivided in 1889 as a Toronto suburb for the very wealthy. Its namesake and creator was John Thomas Moore of Markham, Ontario, who held many prominent positions in business and political circles. He was a principal in the Alberta Central Railway and its president in 1911, and vice-president of the Belt Line Railway, a commuter line which once served the rapidly expanding suburbs north and west of the City of Toronto.

Moore personally oversaw the construction of the Belt Line’s showpiece station at Moore Park, predicting it would bring many buyers to his Moore Park subdivision. However, the Belt Line’s eventual failure due to stiff competition and the economic times actually postponed the building of homes in Moore Park until the early 1900s. By the 1930s, Moore Park was completely developed, with English Cottage, Georgian, and Tudor-style houses being the primary construction styles of the day (although the neighbourhood now boasts many newer townhouses). Moore Park lots are generally quite large, and many of the houses back on to one of the ravines that skirt this neighbourhood.

For such a high end neighbourhood it is somewhat surprising that many of the houses have shared rather than private driveways, and smaller lots than those of other elite districts. However, the streets are so quiet and uncluttered that parking is not a problem. Now combined on the map with Rosedale, which occupies the bottom half of the district, development in the area has followed the natural contours of the existing ravines.

Moore Park is surrounded on all sides by natural barriers. To the north is the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, the railway tracks, to the east is the Moore Park Ravine and to the west is the Vale of Avoca Ravine. The safe, winding streets help create an atmosphere of privacy, a quality valued in a district so close to the city core. With so much nature at its doorstep, and easy access to acclaimed public and private schools, it is not surprising that Moore Park is one of Toronto’s most sought after neighbourhoods. 

The highly regarded schools include:

Whitney Jr. School
Moore Park Jr. & Sr. School
Bennington Heights School
Rosedale Public School
Brown School
Maurice Cody School
Rolph Road School
Cottingham Jr. School
Northern Secondary
North Toronto CI

Moore Park residents do most of their shopping at either the Yonge and St. Clair or the Mount Pleasant and Davisville shopping districts. Both these areas are well known for their gourmet food shops and fine dining, and the busy Yonge/St. Clair area also has a wide variety of business and medical services, boutiques, and groceries catering to the busy professional. Moore Park residents who live in the more secluded south-east pocket of the neighbourhood can also walk across a railway overpass to the small collection of neighbourhood stores on Summerhill Avenue.

Nature and fitness enthusiasts derive year-round enjoyment from the Moore Park Ravine foot path, an 8 kilometre trail that passes through the Rosedale Ravine, the Mt. Pleasant cemetery, the Lower Don Trail and the old Don Valley Pressed Brickworks which finally closed its kilns in 1988 after a run as one of Canada’s oldest brick works. Moore Park Ravine follows Mud Creek, a small tributary of the Don River. Its thickly-wooded slopes and wetlands provide good opportunities for viewing birds and other wildlife in their natural habitat, and the adjacent Chorley Park is an excellent strolling park. 

Nearby parks also include:

Todmorden Mills Park
Riverdale Park
David A. Balfour Park
Winston Churchill Park

The local library is the Deer Park Branch at 40 St. Clair Ave. E., and Mooredale House at 146 Crescent Road offers a variety of programming including a series of summer day camps.

Moorevale Park, one block east of Mount Pleasant Road, has five tennis courts, a busy tennis club, a baseball diamond and a wading pool. The Rosedale-Moore Park Association is located in Mooredale House, an old mansion at Crescent Road and Mount Pleasant, and provides a multitude of activities for both children and adults, including a swimming club and summer camps for children. For movie-goers Moore Park is close to a number of theatres on Yonge Street, Eglinton Avenue and Mount Pleasant Road.

Moore Park has bus service on St. Clair Avenue, Mount Pleasant Road and Moore Avenue. The Yonge and St. Clair subway station is within walking distance of many Moore Park houses. Motorists have quick access via Moore Avenue to both the Bayview Extension and the Don Valley Parkway.

The town of NORTH TORONTO was incorporated in 1890 as the result of an amalgamation between Davisville Village, Eglinton Village and Bedford Park Village. Despite the amalgamation, the old neighbourhood names remain in common use to distinguish the various pockets. When the Mega City was formed in 1998 the North Toronto neighbourhood became a central location within the new city boundaries, yet its identity endures. It is especially popular with families with young children. It has an excellent selection of public, private and separate schools, many parkettes and playgrounds, a community centre, a library and convenient access to Toronto's transit system.

BEDFORD PARK began as a farming hamlet centred around the crossroads of Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue. It is likely that Bedford Park is named after the Bedford Park Hotel which opened in 1873 at the south west corner of Yonge Street and Fairlawn Avenue.

Bedford Park has a good mix of detached and homes and semis. The original housing stock was built between 1890 and 1940. However, many of the bungalows in the neighbourhood have been torn down and replaced with custom-designed houses. The award winning Bedford Glen development on Sylvan Valley Way, is a pretty collection of low-rise terraced condominium apartments and townhouses in a private ravine setting.

The lovely family-sized homes also include access to some of Toronto's best schools including:

John Fisher Jr. School
John Ross Roberston School
Allenby Jr. School
Blythwood School
North Preparatory School
North Toronto CI
Lawrence Park CI
Forest Hill CI
Leaside CI

Yonge Lawrence Village is a family oriented shopping district with a good cross-section of stores. It also features a good selection of coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants. The Avenue Road shopping district, north of Lawrence, has a diverse mix of shops and restaurants including national chain stores, home decorating stores, fast food restaurants, gift stores and gourmet food shops.

The Eglinton Way along Eglinton Avenue West, from Oriole Parkway to Chaplin Crescent includes a myriad of beautiful shops, restaurants serving food from around the world and all services needed for personal care, fashion and the household. Residents celebrate the Spring Fair in June and the Harvest Festival in September.

LYTTON PARK, now known as Lawrence Park South, is an enclave filling a partly hidden valley around Strathallan Boulevard; the lawn bowling and tennis courts provide a neighbourhood focus. Here the detached Georgian houses sit on generously sized lots with large trees that provide wonderful shade in summer and a winter wonderland when the snow comes. Part of the area's appeal is its proximity to posh schools and amenities like the Granite club and Sherwood Park, which lies just south of the area.

Known as Waverley Park until 1931, the actual building of homes in the WANLESS PARK district, boundaried by Lawrence to the south, Ronan to the west and the Riverview Drive Ravine to the east, was stalled initially by World War I and then by the Great Depression. In 1931 the City of Toronto expropriated the properties in the centre of Waverley Park for the creation of a public park. The Park itself, and the streets in the community are all named after John Wanless, a former Toronto alderman and educator. The area formed by the former Teddington Park and Wanless Park, now known as Lawrence Park North, is one of the city's most exclusive districts, drawing discerning homeowners with such amenities as the Rosedale Golf Club.

Wanless Park's solid brick detached houses were built mostly in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of the houses are two-storey, with a sprinkling of bungalows as well. Overall the property sizes in Wanless Park are generous, with most homes having at least a thirty foot frontage and either a mutual or private driveway, and being constructed in the Tudor and Gothic styles turning to Geordian and Victorian closer to Yonge. The majority of Wanless Park houses either face the park or back onto the Riverview Drive ravine.

The neighbourhood's main attraction is Wanless Park, an island of green space right in the centre of the neighbourhood. This social and recreational hub has 5 floodlit tennis courts, a basketball court, a baseball diamond, a tots' playground and a wading pool. The award-winning Wanless Park Community Tennis Club offers lessons, certified instruction, social events, clubs, teams and tournaments for adults and juniors. 

Additional parks and green spaces include:

The Belt Line Trail
Sherwood Park
Blythwood Ravine
Lawrence Park
Sherwood Park
Sunnybrook Park

Wanless Park is close to the Bedford Park Community Centre, which is located at the Bedford Park Public School and includes a gym and an indoor pool. Wanless Park residents enjoy the convenience of being able to walk to all the local amenities including the school and community centre, the George Locke Public Library, and the hundreds of stores, restaurants and professional/medical services along Yonge Street. Many of the area stores cater to families with young children, reflecting the demographics of the surrounding neighbourhood.

The Woburn Parkette, west of Yonge street, is a popular destination point for neighbourhood parents with toddlers and preschoolers. It features a tots' playground and a wading pool. A few blocks north of the Woburn Parkette is The Fairlawn Neighbourhood Centre, which operates out of the Fairlawn Heights United Church and includes seasonal programming for residents of all ages.

Further south, the North Toronto Community Centre on Eglinton Avenue just east of Avenue Road is another popular destination for fitness enthusiasts, as is Sherwood Park which has a lovely walking path highlighted by some of the oldest and largest trees in the city.

The Lawrence subway station, a stop on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line, is within walking distance of this neighbourhood (just off Yonge Street). Bus routes on Mount Pleasant Road and on Lawrence Avenue also make connections to the Yonge subway line. There is also bus service on Yonge Street, as well as limited service on both Avenue Road and Mount Pleasant Road. It is approximately twenty minutes by car to downtown Toronto. The Yonge Street on-ramp to Highway 401 is approximately 5 minutes from here.