With the luxurious Bloor Street to the south, Davenport bordering the north, Yonge marking the eastern front, and Avenue Road to the west, Yorkville is one of the most famous and desirable precincts of Toronto. In order to fully appreciate what Yorkville has become, we must offer a brief history of the community.
In 1830, Joseph Bloor and William Botsford Jarvis purchased the land for the purpose of creating a residential suburb. Over the next few years, the quiet suburb expanded, and by 1853, the population hit 1,000, officially becoming the Village of Yorkville. The City of Toronto annexed the Village of Yorkville on Feb. 1, 1883, thus the village became known as St. Paul’s Ward. After the annexation, the neighbourhood flourished as a residential suburb, and by the 1960s, it was known as the bohemian culture centre of Toronto. During this time, the area produced many of Canada’s most prolific and successful artists, such as musicians Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Gordon Lightfoot, and many writers, including Margaret Atwood, Gwendolyn MacEwen, and Dennis Lee.
Land prices did not spike until the completion of the Bloor/Danforth subway; this allowed for a higher volume of people to commute to and from Yorkville, and the scenic neighbourhood soon became more desirable. It wasn’t much later when construction on office buildings began and many of the houses north of Bloor became boutiques carrying high fashions and antiques, and many art galleries, bars, cafes, and eateries began to pop up. Finally, once the 1970s came around, high priced condominiums and hotels were proposed for the area. Today, Yorkville is known for one thing: luxury.
In 2007, this section of Bloor was listed as the 25th most expensive street in the world, averaging $198 per square foot, and one short year later, Fortune Magazine listed Bloor as the seventh most expensive shopping street in the world. These days, Yorkville averages $300 per square foot, making it the third most expensive retail space in North America.
Aside from the outrageous amount of shopping that is possible in the numerous boutiques and at Holt Renfrew, Yorkville is also a locale celebrities tend to frequent, especially during the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2008, the city began extensive construction on Bloor between Church and Avenue, with a goal to enhance the pedestrian experience by expanding sidewalks, planting more trees and flower beds, installing modern lighting, and creating space to showcase public art. This renovation will surely boost the neighbourhood’s desirability, and that is why it is necessary to pay attention to all of the new condominiums being constructed in the area.
Yorkville has a wide array of residential buildings under construction and in the developing phase, such as Pears on the Avenue, a 20-storey project by Menkes Developments, 36 Hazelton by Alterra and Zinc Construction, and the highly anticipated Exhibit, a 32-storey development by Bazis Inc. and PlazaCorp. Yorkville is certainly still on the rise and we are sure that it will be many years before we see the neighbourhood at its full potential.
If we examine the trend of becoming one of the most luxurious districts in the country and take these characteristics and apply them to another area of Toronto, where do you suppose the next high-end neighbourhood will sprout? Queen West? Kensington? Distillery District? Please share your opinions below! Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.
