Walking Toronto streets - Broadview Avenue

This walk starts at the north end of Broadview Avenue (which runs from O'Connor Drive down to Eastern Avenue) and heads south. It roughly follows the Don Valley Parkway and has some great views of the downtown across the valley in places. Click on any picture to see a big version! Also part of this map.

As shown in my O'Connor Drive walk, at the far north end of Broadview (and far west end of O'Connor) is the amazing Sisters of St Joseph aged care building.

A little further south (this picture looking north on Broadview at Pottery Road) is a DQ (left) that has been there 'forever', with a newish condo - the MintoSkyy - behind it. Pottery Road drops down into the Don Valley at left.

Another couple of blocks south and just behind the Estonian House frontage is the old (1891) Chester Public School (this is the south wall below, showing the original building). A new development will add condos and remove the addition on the east side (Broadview) revealing more of the original building.

This is what the front looks like now. Previous picture was taken from the alley at left. I didn't know that "Numerous Estonian Houses were set up after the Soviet occupation of Estonia led to tens of thousands of Estonian people fleeing the war and the occupation and settling overseas."

Broadview Subway Station just north of Danforth.

Looking SE at Danforth and Broadview. See also some pictures of this intersection - including historical pictures - on my Bloor/Danforth post.

I've seen many of these wooden 'kits' to build patios on the street.

The Loblaws and a big parking lot about a block south of Danforth. Proposed 35 story condo development for this site.

Montcrest School - incorporating a number of mansions on the west side of Broadview. One of them (660 Broadview, to the right of this picture) was the home of William Peyton Hubbard, the first Toronto City councilor of African descent who was elected in 1894 and again thereafter many times.

Just down the hill from Broadview, the Riverdale rink and pool in background.

Nice view of downtown from Broadview Avenue.

Ukrainian Eucharistic Church at Broadview and Bain.

Can't forget the 'Rooster Coffee House'!

One of Toronto's oldest homes at 469 Broadview Avenue - the 'John Cox Cottage'. See also: https://globalnews.ca/news/3521468/how-an-electricians-visit-led-to-the-discovery-of-torontos-oldest-home/

St. Matthew's Lawn Bowling Clubhouse - built in 1906 but moved here (from about a block south where Bridgepoint Hospital is now) in 2009.

The old Don Jail and the new Bridgepoint Hospital buildings just north of Gerrard and west of Broadview. All part of one complex. Nick worked at Bridgepoint one summer.

St. John's Presbyterian Church - on the east side of Broadview and soon to be condos. You probably can't read the detail on the sign at the lower right, but that's a very common looking sign around Toronto!

Riverdale Public Library at the corner of Broadview and Gerrard.

Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes building! (Possibly a direct link to The Flintstones' Royal Order of Water Buffaloes, which I'm guessing is the first thing you thought of when you read the above 😀)

'The Royals' (Royal Canadian Curling Club) on Broadview just north of Queen.

Broadview Hotel at Broadview and Queen. Looking SW from Broadview. Great view from the rooftop!

Colourful alley just north of Queen Street east of Broadview.

Boarded up houses (about 10 in a row) so we know what's coming here - condos. But only an 8 story building proposed so far. Broadview Avenue just north of Eastern Avenue, which marks the southern end of Broadview Avenue.

Walking Toronto Streets - Pape Avenue +

This walk starts at the south end of Pape Avenue and goes north until it meets with Donlands Avenue to go over the Millwood Overpass bridge (Leaside Bridge). The rest is the '+' part of the title - I crossed the bridge then curved west (along Millwood Road, then Southvale Drive), south on Bayview and finally east on Pottery Road to join up with Broadview (subject of another blog post). Click on any picture to see a big version! Also part of this map.

Pape Avenue is named after Joseph Pape, a Yorkshireman who had a market garden at the corner of Gerrard and Pape.

At the far south end of Pape is the Revival Film Studios.

Walking north, Pape at Queen Street East looking north.

Toronto paramedic services - formerly an old Police Station. On Pape Ave between Queen and Dundas.

Sikh temple on Pape.

Jewish cemetary just south of the Matty Eckler Centre. This was the first Jewish cemetery in all of Toronto. Established in 1849 and closed since 1930.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pape_Avenue_Cemetery

Matty Eckler Community Centre and pool at Gerrard Street East and Pape. We spent MANY hours here with the boys!

Looking south from the walkway over the railway tracks, just north of Gerrard.

Good timing for a train coming by. Looking east - Gerrard Square to the right.

Pape Primary School - Pape and Langley Avenue.

From the TDSB site, Pape School "...began as a four-room school on April 10, 1899.  The principal and two teachers taught six classes from Grade one to Grade three.  As the population grew, several additions were made to the building from 1908 to 1914, with the newest wing built in 1958."

450 Pape Avenue - William Harris House (1901).

Some movies were filmed here, most famously perhaps being the Steven King novel-based 'IT'. Prior to some extensive renovations someone toured through it and took this video. Nice stairs! He goes up to the 2nd floor around 3:30 and to the 3rd around 7:15

For many years it was a Salvation Army home for unwed mothers. That has a bit of a dark past as shown here: https://www.originscanada.org/adoption-practices/adoption-realities/homes-for-unwed-mothers

It is Nellie's Shelter for Women and Children now - much more positive than the previous I hope.

This type of small bench has been installed in a few places on Pape.

Looking north up Pape Avenue 'a few years ago' - after it was widened but while streetcars still ran along it (and horses and carts).

Back to the present - ONO (One Night Only) Pizza seems to be here for much longer than one night now. Formerly Pape Pizza.

The Schmooz - great food.

Former Riverdale Presbyterian Church converted to condos.

And click here to see it a few years earlier.

Pape Public Library

And another historical picture - on the west side of Pape just south of Danforth was the Valley View Dairy (this picture looking north).

Pape and Danforth looking north. The NE corner is being proposed for a 49 story building! The NW corner is a Royal Bank building - formerly a Union Bank of Canada (which merged with Royal Bank in 1925)

And a slightly older picture (showing the actual Union Bank) is here in Wikipedia.

A commercial block on the west side of Pape.

Then a cool looking tree stump caught my eye.

And a symbiotic tree and climbing vine.

Typical East York houses flanking a renovation with added story.

Agnes MacPhail Square and the 'new' houses (since we moved into the neighborhood) built in the area that used to be the track/field beside Centennial College - which is behind a couple of rows of houses centre right in this picture.

Our vet (Danforth Veterinary Clinic) and the El Greco restaurant (never been, but sounds good - https://www.blogto.com/restaurants/el-greco-toronto/)

Legion Branch. The 'statue' to the right on the wall is "Dedicated to the memory of Soldiers of Suicide"

Large cats at a home near the south end of the Leaside Bridge

Leaside Bridge. At this location I could feel it move when large vehicles went by. After all, it was built in 10 months. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaside_Bridge

DVP still busy going into the city.

Close-up of the area to the far right of the previous picture. Turns out it's the North Toronto Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Power lines going down into the Don Valley. The nearest tower (and the next few in the valley) are wood.

Leaside Arena (and curling rink behind it) at Laird Drive and Southwood.

Coming down Bayview Ave. Turns out there are some nice trails just 50 feet to my left that would have made for a nicer walk. Oh well.

The Bayview swing gates. Seem strange to me, but the idea is that they swing out over the road (a bit more each gate) to merge traffic during floods. A bit further south they have these on the northbound lanes at a low spot.

See also https://bayview-news.com/2022/01/bayviews-swing-gates-intended-to-merge-traffic-during-floods.html/

And suddenly some quiet at Pottery Road and the Don River

After crossing the Don River is the Todmorden Mills Heritage site. Originally a lumber mill (circa 1800), with brewery (added 1820), then riding stable and even German POW camp for a few years.

Saw this strange-looking sculpture(?) on the Todmorden Mills property but was getting too tired to take a detour so managed a shot from distance. There is a lot of art on this site (e.g.  https://www.torontograndprixtourist.com/2022/04/artist-john-notten-flipping-canoe-and.html)

Then walked up the hill to Broadview and a combination of the temperature ("...feels like 39°..." at this point) and running out of water meant that I found he nearest public transit and ended the walk.