The Annex
The Annex is one of Toronto’s premier neighbourhoods. Located between Dupont and Bloor Street, west to Bathurst and east to Avenue Road, this heterogeneous community is made up of successful business people, prominent artists and University of Toronto students and faculty. The neighbourhood is full of restaurants, bookstores and independently owned shops.
The Annex is a great neighbourhood for those who appreciate architecture and detail. The residential tree-lined streets are filled with Victorian, Queen Anne, Edwardian and Richardsonian Romanesque homes and mansions, built between 1880 and the early 1900s. Between the 1950s and 1960s, mid-rise and high-rise apartment buildings began popping up to meet the needs of the eclectic community. The exterior facades of the homes are decorated with plum and pink Credit River sandstone, red brick, and terracotta clay tiles. The detail is among the finest – and most varied – in the city, with pyramidal roofs, turrets, grand archways and wooden spindled porches.
The Annex is an exciting and colourful neighbourhood. It has an active nightlife along Bloor Street for those who enjoy a night on the town after a long week. Plenty of green spaces make the Annex feel more residential than commercial, including nearby Christie Pits park which includes soccer, baseball and a weekly outdoor movie night in the summer, and tobogganing and outdoor skating in the winter.