Cabbagetown/Corktown See All Neighbourhoods

These neighbourhoods are experienced, and know what it is like to rise out of the ashes, amidst the growth, decline and subsequent rebirth of one of the oldest parts of Toronto. This evolution has added to the character, value and overall appeal of this dynamic central east portion of downtown. What was once considered sullied, is now a cross-section of counter-culture, where village shops, cafes and restaurants populate the streets. There is a buzz in the air here, because residents of these area have something in common: they are in on the secret of this up-and-coming area.

Corktown is the residential neighbourhood just east of the St. Lawrence Market, sandwiched between the $1 billion transformation of Regent Park to the north, the restoration of the Distillery District into a dynamic retail and cultural centre, and reinvention of the West Don Lands to the south for the 2015 arrival of the Pan Am Games. Originally an Irish ethnic enclave of working class cottages, breweries and brickworks in the early 19th century through to the 1960s, this pocket was subsequently battered, bruised and block-busted with multiple social housing developments and several elevated roadways. What remains is a neighbourhood that feels a little bit gritty and forlorn which, amidst some spectacular architectural edifices like the Little Trinity Church (1843), St. Paul’s Basilica (1887), the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse (1848), and some stellar examples of late 19th century British-style row-housing on Corktown side streets. This neighbourhood is quickly evolving towards becoming “the” destination of hip alternative Canucks who value proximity to amenities and the attractive price point. In fact, the transformation includes the repurposing of former warehouses into live/work studios, and the arrival of multiple concrete ‘n cool condominiums on Sumach, River, Queen and King Streets East.

Cabbagetown, located east of Sherbourne and south of Wellesley East all the way south to Corktown, encompasses pockets of Victorian and infill housing that had long been wrapped by the 1950s social housing projects of Moss Park and Regent Park to the south and east, and subsequently served as cheap housing and the service area for the city’s prostitution and drug trade. However, since the 1970s, beginning in the residential pocket north of Gerrard, east of Parliament near the Riverdale Farm, this largest continuous area of Victorian residential architecture in North America has been undergoing gentrification ever since. Serving as a cultural hub for the creative intelligentsia, the area is increasingly popular for its affordability and proximity to the downtown core, along with its interesting character housing stock.

For those seeking a central location, character housing and an affordable price point, these are neighbourhoods worth consideration.