North Toronto

North Toronto

North Toronto is the northern section of the old, pre-amalgamation City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It occupies a geographically central location within the current 'megacity' boundaries. It is a relatively narrow strip, centered around Yonge Street, and running from Davisville Avenue north to Blythwood Road. The Town of North Toronto was incorporated in 1890, when much of the area was still farmland, and annexed by the City of Toronto in 1912.

Toronto's Yonge Street streetcar line was then extended through North Toronto, replacing the former radial railway service. North Toronto soon emerged as a popular streetcar suburb, with the area becoming completely developed by the 1940s. The streetcar was replaced in 1954 by the Toronto Transit Commission's Yonge subway as far as Eglinton Avenue and a trolleybus running north from there; further subway extensions have since replaced the buses. Today North Toronto is a relatively affluent community, and very popular with young families.

The neighbourhood has had a mixed-density design for some time, but this is rapidly changing to a greater density with the construction of condos in the area. The southern bounds of the neighbourhood is densely populated, with the entire section between Yonge Street and Mount Pleasant Road south of Davisville Avenue built up into high rise apartment buildings. More recently, condo structures have further added to this density, especially south of Merton Street (backing on to the distinguished privately-owned Mount Pleasant Cemetery). Additional condos projects have begun on Mount Pleasant Road, and the existing medium-rise dwellings south-east of Yonge and Eglinton are being joined by a Minto condo project with two towers of 39 and 52 stories, respectively.

Mount Pleasant cemetery serves as a major green space for the southern end of the neighbourhood. It is connected to the Belt Line 'Linear Park', a heavily-used path that was fashioned out of the track bed of the defunct Belt Line Railway Company's mid-town line. This park trends north-west as far as Eglinton West station at Eglinton Avenue and Allen Road. The cemetery is also connected to trails in the Mud Creek and Yellow Creek ravines, which lead to the Don River. Green space to the north includes the Alexander Muir Memorial Gardens at Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue, which connects to Sherwood Ravine Park and Sunnybrook Park to the east.

North Toronto is served by north-south commercial strips in Yonge Street, Mount Pleasant Road, and Bayview Avenue. These offer an array of shopping and dining aimed primarily at the local market. As with many neighbourhoods in Toronto, both streets are given to small, locally-owned shops in free-standing buildings. Shopping malls including two cinemas exist in the Yonge-Eglinton Centre and adjoining Canada Square. A 'big box' shopping development is taking place to the east, just south of the Eglinton/Laird area.

Libraries can be found on Bayview Avenue, at Yonge and Lawrence, and near the Yonge-Eglinton Centre. A community centre exists at Eglinton Park (Eglinton Avenue and Oriole Parkway). The Toronto Camera Club finds its home on Mount Pleasant Road near Millwood Road


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