[urbandreamer]

Monday found me in the Eglinton-Lawrence riding, the first time since the election was called that I saw PC election signs out numbering Liberal ones. Yes, I know it's a wealthy/conservative (Orthodox) neighbourhood, but perhaps the PC's do have a shot at winning this riding? (Although home owners are vastly outnumbered by rental apartment dwellers....)

Anyhow, this part of Toronto is undergoing enormous change...for the worse, imho...from an architectural perspective. Never before have I seen entire streets of homes in Toronto under reconstruction; older (and nice) homes being replaced by seriously FUGLY mcmansions. It's rather depressing.... Still, thankfully, many 75 year old (or so) homes do exist, especially in the south and east end of this zone, as defined by this map below:

The homes below are roughly located between Castlefield/Rosewell/Lawrence/Alexandra Wood.

The bad:

The good:

An Avenue Road interlude:



It's a real shame Avenue Road up here feels like an expressway. I think a boulevard should be created, with more trees, and perhaps a streetcar ROW?

Now a little winding tour surrounding Lytton Park before heading up to Lawrence and Avenue Rd.

Interestingly, the neighbourhood to the east of Avenue Rd remains largely untouched by vulgar McMansionites.... I wonder why???

I love this car port!

Across the street from this stately home is a modern answer: Which home owner has the better view?

Sadly, the tree is marked for death. (It does look like it could crash into the house during a storm, so I guess it must come down.)

Just a few houses down the street from the modern glass and concrete home is this gaudy beastly thing:

Will the hipsters of today be lawn bowling c.2050?

Getting closer to Avenue and Lawrence, the questionable taste(less) homes start reappearing:

Even a hollyhock can't disguise an ugly home:

In Lytton Park, I go for a dizzy ride. It's been over two decades since I've enjoyed this view:

The sites and sounds of 11A, heading up towards Lawrence Avenue from Lytton Park. I love the older townhouses (see first and second photo below) and wonder what Toronto would be like if more of these lined our streets? Pretty cool....



Av&Law looks dumpy, and needs a massive increase in attractive (aka Peter Clewes-styled) 5-10 story condo+retail buildings. It's amusing how in this wealthy area of Toronto, the "main street" looks like a housing project.

I pick up the architectural tour on the other side of Avenue Rd, roughly going along Edgecombe Ave-Otter Crescent-Caribou Rd-Frontenac Ave-Chicoutimi Ave (first time I've heard of this street in Toronto!)-Glen Rush Blvd-Alexandra Wood (one of my favourite streets in Toronto! UT-ers, you gotta check this street out!)

Tons of construction along this route, and imho, the flippers/speculators may be in for a surprise!

I love the cute little post office box on the corner.


Old North York bungalows meet new McMansions. Guess which one I'd buy?

An earlier attempt at a renovation goes horribly, tragically, wrong....

Does this guy have a chance of winning on 14 October?

Maybe I've gone overboard with the photos in this thread, but the next four photos demonstrate why I'm in love with Alexandra Wood and Caldow Rd in Toronto.

If I have time, I'll upload some more photos of this area I took several months ago.

 

[Mustapha]

urbandreamer,

Yes, there has been quite a change in this 'riding' over the 52 years I have lived here. Whatever bungalows exist won't for long. Douglas and St Germain west of Avenue Road were all-bungalow streets 20 years ago. Now they are all McMansion with the accessory SUVs and pot lights in eaves-lit-for-night-effect. The streets not built up with bungalows have a Leaside or Kingsway feel to them as your pictures show; the owners seem to be of the mindset that renovation rather than demolition is the way to go. A bungalow owner friend of mine finished and detailed his place to perfection in an arts and crafts style; it was knocked down by the new developer owner.

Politically: this was Liberal Mitchell Sharp's riding; usually Liberal over the years. Conservatives Murray Maynard in the early 70s and Rod Parker for a short time in the late 70's. I've seen many more Conservative lawn signs this election - Joe Volpe's controversies during his leadership campaign may do him in this time.

 

[Whoaccio]

Nice to finally see some shots from my neighborhood up here. I agree with much of you're assessment, especially wrt to the McMansions. From my anecdotal experience, McMansions seem to be more popular in the areas with lower values. Walking along the posh parts of Lytton, most houses are already quite nice (and $), so I think there is less of an incentive for people to build their own little Parthenon. If you move further away from upmarket areas, the housing stock tends to turn to bungalows. For whatever reason, these are the typical targets for McMansions to replace. As for Avenue road north of Lawrence, I don't actually think many "locals" shop there. There is Pusateries, but I am convinced that only nannies shop there. There is some development going on at the LCBO, but this area has a strong NIMBY-bent and I doubt any major changes will occur. I thought the fairly large condo-project at Lawrence Park highschool might beef up the vibrancy of the area, but apparently not.

Politically: Joe Volpe is a god in this riding. I swear to god, the Liberals could run Mussolini in this riding. He would still win because his name ends in a vowel. It sounds harsh, but there is a large Portuguese/Italian community here that votes Liberal consistently. The strong Jewish presence also leans Liberal, but Conservatives are making inroads. Even after god knows how many scandals though, Volpe still won this riding with nearly 2x the votes as the CPC candidate.

 

[Mustapha]

And also, that house with the 'I love this car port' comment - that house had an owner in the late 60's/early 70s that always had an NDP sign on the grass at election time. Even to this politico-in-short-pants at the time I got a chuckle out of seeing it.

 

[urbandreamer]

Oh yeah, I love that car port house: very west coast vibe (or even Wilmot Township just to the west of Waterloo), so not surprisingly, an NDP-er would own/build the house.

What fueled my 2 hour walk/photo tour? Earlier in the morning, these airheads:

 

[jswag]

An earlier attempt at a renovation goes horribly, tragically, wrong....

No kidding! That is just AWFUL. I wonder what kook approved that.

 

[Redroom Studios]

awesome tour man! That 'tragic' renovation gone wrong is ugly to the extreme... maybe it will eventually tip over. I feel sorry for the neighbours there. Love those beautiful tree lined streets you featured near the end. Glad to see you getting so much use and enjoyment out of that camera!

 

[Jayomatic]

I always called that one modern glass one the "Hollywood Squares House" and would walk by and wonder if Alf was behind the curtains.

 

[Observer Walt]

I think Whoaccio has put his finger on it. The big older houses (generally south of Lawrence) are pretty nice, and pretty expensive. Many of them are now $800,000 +, and $1 million or more is not unusual. Not many people tear those down.

North of Lawrence was post-war two-bedroom bungalows, a different story. Those are the streets where entire blocks have been demolished and replaced with the McMansions.

The Havergal campus is nice, if you have the chance to stop and actually look at it. Townhouses along the north side of the Marshall McLuhan High School property (former army training college) are architecturally interesting.

 

[TOareaFan]

It would seem that one form of architecture the folks in that neighbourhood are opposed to is sports bubbles with artificial grass!

 

[CityPlaceN1]

Nice update. This is a great neighbourhood.

 

[urbandreamer]

My favourite house in Toronto? This one:

Taken 13 July 2008 (more photos to come if I find the time to upload them), I discover this modernist gem on one of the streets off of Glen Rush Blvd, southeast of Lawrence and Bathurst.

Damn, I hope I'll own this house (or one like it) someday!

 

[christiesplits]

An earlier attempt at a renovation goes horribly, tragically, wrong....

"The goggles.... they do nothing!"

 

[King of Kensington]

Most of Eglinton-Lawrence is an eyesore, though there are exceptions

As for Volpe, he'll hang on. Mike Colle was able to win very narrowly but E-L is the center of Toronto's Orthodox Jewish community and the religious schools issue was especially important to them and they voted as a bloc for the Tories. There is no issue like that in this election.

Besides, Eglinton-Lawrence went Liberal in 1984.