Rosedale-Moore Park - North of the Railway Line and East of the Don River
Moore Park is in the heart of the city, located just north of Rosedale. Its boundaries are Mount Pleasant Cemetery to the north, the Rosedale ravine to the west, the midtown railway to the south, and the Don Valley to the east.
The Bridle Path's houses are bigger, and Forest Hill's and Lawrence Park's lots are more grand, but Rosedale and its northern neighbour, Moore Park, remain tops in Toronto for their class. The massive houses appear to take up all the available air space within their property lines. There's a long history of the city's notables making their homes here at one point or another, with everyone from Tom Thomson (on Severn Creek) to Ken Thomson (8 Castle Frank Road). Laid out on streets that follow the natural topography rather than a grid, Rosedale is a maze to outsiders, and a protective labyrinth to residents who value the low traffic produced by all the dead ends and roads that turn back on themselves. Though it has earned a reputation as one of the city's most exclusive neighbourhoods, it's been quietly diversifying, with dozens of grand old homes replaced in the 1950s with apartment buildings, about half of which are now condos. On Crescent Road, one of the two streets colonized by Heather Reisman and Jerry Schwartz's massive compound, for instance, there are three buildings with units accessible to thrifty Indigo branch managers. As you head north toward Moore Park, houses become more modern. Development in the area was first planned in the 1880s, but was waylaid till the early 1900s. Bordered by one of the most interesting commercial strips of Yonge, with some of the most attractive houses and charming parks in the city (not to mention Rosedale Ravine), this neighbourhood is hard to beat.
HOUSING STOCK: Though most houses in Rosedale and southern Moore Park-a mix of early-20th-century Tudor, Georgian and Edwardian-are impressive, there's a great deal of variety. Homes by Old City Hall architect E. J. Lennox (89 Elm Street) and Arts and Crafts master Eden Smith (2 Cluny Drive) rub shoulders with brick-arched designs (44-46 Castle Frank Crescent) that wouldn't be out of place in any 1970s suburb. There is even a smattering of row houses on Tacoma in north Moore Park.
BARGAIN ZONES: Streets such as Standish and Astley, as well as the upper numbers of Summerhill Gardens all present relatively good deals, as do the row houses on Tacoma and the slightly larger ones on Ottawa.
THE VERDICT: Rosedale has long served as the shining Camelot upon which generations of hopeful Bay Streeters have pinned their hopes. A house in this 'hood signifies the owner's arrival like no other in the city.
For LISTINGS in the Moore Park neighbourhood, click here
