The Annex                       

ANNEX OVERVIEW

The Annex is Toronto's most heterogeneous community. Its residents include successful business people, prominent artists, University of Toronto students and faculty, and people from all walks of life.  This is a vibrant neighbourhood that draws its energy from the University of Toronto, as well as from the bars, restaurants and nightclubs that crowd together along Bloor Street.

The Annex is served by Huron Street Junior Public School.  Private schools in the area include the Taddle Creek Montessori School and the University of Toronto Schools, a private high school affiliated with the University of Toronto. 

The Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre is located at the corner of Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue and offers a wide variety of fitness and recreational programs.  Nearby Trinity St. Paul's United Church is home to a number of faith-based and artistic groups, including the Baroque orchestra Tafelmusik.  Annex fixtures such as the Bloor Cinema, Lee's Palace and the Tranzac Club continue to offer a wide spectrum of entertainment options.  

Many of the rooming houses and multi-unit homes in the Annex have recently been converted back to single family houses reflecting the return to prominence of this historic Toronto neighbourhood.

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ANNEX HISTORY

The Annex was subdivided in the 1870's and 1880's. It immediately became one of Toronto's elite neighbourhoods.

The Annex's first residents included the likes of Timothy Eaton, the patriarch of Eatons department store, and George Gooderham, president of the Gooderham and Worts Distillery.

The Annex's Golden Era lasted until the 1920's, 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.

The Annex has endured and is now over one hundred years old. It remains one of Toronto's premier neighbourhoods.

The Toronto neighbourhood text profiles, sketches and maps displayed on this
website were published in ³Your Guide to Toronto Neighbourhoods², are
copyright Maple Tree Publishing and have been reproduced by the Toronto Real
Estate Board under license.