Toronto Parkdale Photo Gallery

The Toronto House Building Association was the first company to actively promote and develop real estate in Parkdale and it was likely that they gave the area its name. It was often referred to as ‘The Flowery Suburb’ and "The Parkdale Register" said it had "the diversified scenery of an undulating expanse of fertile country, wooded, watered, cultivated, and adorned with attractive homes".

By the mid-1870’s Parkdale was firmly established as a lakeside community and estates in South Parkdale (ie. South of Queen Street) were much sought after by the wealthy British class of Toronto, wishing to escape the city — it’s factories, high property taxes, and poor drinking and swimming water. North Parkdale (ie. north of Queen) was becoming the home of the working class: labourers and recent immigrants from Ireland, Scotland, and England, attracted by the lower property taxes and good access to public transportation to Toronto.

The Toronto House Building Association was the first company to promote and develop property in the area around 1875, and was believed to have named it "Parkdale".

Emerging from Dundas West station, I walked south along Roncesvalles, which has some interesting shops and restaurants and surrounded by quiet lowrise residential streets.