The Annex is a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 'traditional' boundaries of the neighbourhood are north from Bloor to Dupont, west to Bathurst, and east to Avenue Road.[1] The City of Toronto defines a broader Annex neighbourhood, with official boundaries of north from Bloor Street, extending west to Christie Street, north to the CNR/CPR railway tracks, and east to Yonge Street.[2] This includes the areas of "Seaton Village" or "West Annex" to the west of Bathurst and "Yorkville" to the east of Avenue Road.
It is an affluent neighbourhood with well-educated residents and it borders the University of Toronto. The Annex has traditionally been home to many of the university's faculty, as well as housing the university's student body. The Annex is in the political riding of Trinity-Spadina, which is represented both provincially and federally by the New Democratic Party.
History
European settlement of this area began in the 1790s when surveyors laid out York Township. The area east of Brunswick Avenue became part of the village of Yorkville, while the region west of Brunswick was part of Seaton Village. In 1883, Yorkville agreed to annexation with the City of Toronto. In 1886, Simeon Janes, a developer, created a subdivision which he called the Toronto Annex.
First residents of the area included Timothy Eaton, patriarch of the Eatons Department Store, and George Gooderham, president of Gooderham & Worts Distillery. The Annex's Golden Era lasted until the 1920s, when the upper classes began to migrate northward to newer more fashionable suburbs in Forest Hill and Lawrence Park.
Those who stayed behind helped form the Annex Residents Association. This powerful lobby group saved the Annex from the proposed Spadina Expressway which would have divided the Annex in half, had it been built.
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Character
It is mainly residential, with quiet, tree lined one-way streets lined with beautiful Victorian and Edwardian homes and mansions, most of them built between 1880 and the early 1900s. During the 1950s and 1960s, an influx of Hungarian immigrants moved into the neighbourhood after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was suppressed, and many of the businesses and properties along Bloor are owned by Hungarian-Canadian families.
The stretch of Bloor Street between St. George and Bathurst is a vibrant social and retail area, offering to Toronto a wide range of services from upscale dining to discount retailers like Honest Ed's. When someone says that they are "going to the Annex," this stretch of Bloor St. is usually what they are referring to[citation needed].
The Annex is also one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in Toronto in which to rent or own a home[citation needed]. Because of its proximity to the university, it has a high rate of seasonal tenant turnover, and its residents range from university students to long-time residents, including well-established and wealthy families. The neighbourhood's appeal sometimes results in the stretching of its borders by realtors and residents of surrounding areas. For example, Seaton Village, the architecturally-similar district between Bathurst St. and Christie St., is considered by some to be the "West Annex", although the street signs on that stretch of Bloor call it the Korean Business Area. The area between Bloor and College Street is also sometimes referred to as the "South Annex" (again, most often by realtors[citation needed]).
Although the Annex is widely regarded as being peaceful, vibrant, and highly desirable, it is also fairly dense. In fact, if the rest of the geographical Toronto (the official City of Toronto, not including suburban municipalities) was built in a similar manner to the Annex, the entire population of the sprawling GTA (approximately 6 million people[3]) would fit in an area less than one-tenth the size that it does now[4].
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Culture
A group of classic "Annex Style" houses
The neighbourhood has a thriving cultural scene, with the Tranzac (Toronto Australia-New Zealand) Club, the Bathurst Street Theatre, the Bloor Cinema (repertory cinema), the Jewish Community Centre, and, until recently, the now closed Poor Alex Theatre at Bloor and Brunswick. Stores are open late and some restaurants are open well past midnight.
Much of the area's retail, restaurant and entertainment venues are aimed at the university student demographic - young, educated, telecommunications-connected, lack of cooking skills, higher drinking levels, non-driving.
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Schools
Huron Jr., 541 Huron St., (416) 393-1570 (Public School)
Jesse Ketchum Jr. & Sr., 61 Davenport Rd., (416) 393-1530 (Public School)
Palmerston Jr., 734 Palmerston Ave., (416) 393-9305 (Public School)
Central Technical School, 725 Bathurst St., (416) 393-0060 (Public High School)
Loretto College, 391 Brunswick Ave., (416) 393-5511 or South Campus, 783 Bathurst St., (416) 393-5543 (Separate School)
University of Toronto School, 371 Bloor West., (416) 978-3212 (Private School)
Royal St. Georges College, 120 Howland Ave., (416) 533-9481 (Private School)
University of Toronto, St. George Campus, (416) 978-2011 (University)
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External Links
The Annex Residents Association The Annex.com The Annex history on Toronto.com The Annex travel guide from Wikitravel Profiles for this neighbourhood (2006):
Profiles for this neighbourhood (2001):
