Little Houses on Richmond St West

[LowPolygon]

Just seconds from Queen St W, Richmond St W is home to some of Toronto's smallest--and oddest--houses. It appears to have been quite a poor area in earlier times.

Now of course it is a moment away from one of Toronto's hippest neighbourhoods. Even given that, it is still strange to see how largely unaffected it is by the presence of gentrified cooldom.

Outside of a few infill projects, Richmond St is much the same as it has always been. These are in order, running east from Niagara, over as far as Portland.

 

[Edward]

I'm surprised most of these haven't been replaced by new homes or townhouses.

 

[Tewder]

They don't look all that old, for the most part.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Richmond Street Housing Mix...Interesting!

Deepend: Interesting pics of Richmond Street's mix of houses of different types here. It seems that no one house type dominated this area.
Some are probably very different in just their ages also. LI MIKE

 

[junctionist]

They don't look all that old, for the most part.

Actually most seem to be built by the 1920s or earlier. There are a couple of postwar houses and a couple with recent additions.

It didn't gentrify recently thedeepend, but there must have been a demographic shift away from working class at one point.

 

[DC83]

Oh Ya!

I stumbled across this stretch earlier this summer on my way to Caribana!

I remember seeing a couple of the houses 'converted' into make-shift art galleries. I wonder if that's still the case?

I guess it's sketchy b/c it's almost Parkdale?

 

[kettal]

They're very cute, but I'll be surprised if they're still there in 5 years.

 

[LowPolygon]

I stumbled across this stretch earlier this summer on my way to Caribana!

I remember seeing a couple of the houses 'converted' into make-shift art galleries. I wonder if that's still the case?

I guess it's sketchy b/c it's almost Parkdale?

its actually quite far from Parkdale--Drake, Gladstone etc, are all much closer.

One element that impedes gentrification is the presence of a large CMHC development at the western end of the street at Niagara. this has recently become somewhat cleaned up, so maybe it will change things a bit.

 

[urbandreamer]

I chatted with the owner of the architect-designed home (with red Mazda pickup in driveway) on Sunday while hanging out at the Rehearsal Factory next door. These homes have gone way up in value in the past 10 years--from around $200k to over $500k-$600k. I'd rather live in a house here than in a condo!

 

[benii]

I chatted with the owner of the architect-designed home (with red Mazda pickup in driveway) on Sunday while hanging out at the Rehearsal Factory next door. These homes have gone way up in value in the past 10 years--from around $200k to over $500k-$600k. I'd rather live in a house here than in a condo!

500-600k for one of those? haha. Sounds way overpriced for what you get, but I guess some people like antiques.

 

[AgentOrange]

500-600k for one of those? haha. Sounds way overpriced for what you get, but I guess some people like antiques.

Rule #1 of real estate:

LOCATION

Rule #2

LOCATION

Rule #3

LOCATION

I bike down this street and the surrounding ones all the time and some of these houses appear to be nice little gems. I would love to buy a house in this area, perhaps a Victorian style/row house (like the one to the right of the white house #725 or the one to the right of 687).

 

[LowPolygon]

500-600k for one of those? haha. Sounds way overpriced for what you get, but I guess some people like antiques.

uh, whatever

 

[LowPolygon]

Rule #1 of real estate:

LOCATION

Rule #2

LOCATION

Rule #3

LOCATION

I bike down this street and the surrounding ones all the time and some of these houses appear to be nice little gems. I would love to buy a house in this area, perhaps a Victorian style/row house (like the one to the right of the white house #725 or the one to the right of 687).

its surprising how few of them have been renovated given the location. many of them are extremely small, certainly too small for couples with children, also many of them are attached, or semis, so this must be affecting the market. the future for many of the detached houses definitely includes additional sq.footage.

 

[Redroom Studios]

what an odd mish mash of houses... sure a few of them might be gems but some are edging on teardowns. I'd agree with one of the previous comments and say I was surprised how few of them seem to be renovated. Another 10 - 20 years and neighbourhoods like this bordering on the downtown core will likely be targets for re-development.

 

[cdr108]

what an odd mish mash of houses... sure a few of them might be gems but some are edging on teardowns. I'd agree with one of the previous comments and say I was surprised how few of them seem to be renovated. Another 10 - 20 years and neighbourhoods like this bordering on the downtown core will likely be targets for re-development.

remember only 10 years ago, this area was not considered hip/trendy.

although some of the houses would be nice candidates for refurbishing, i wouldn't cry too much if the whole strip was demo'ed for a mid-rise.