Forest Hill South

About Forest Hill South

Forest Hill South is one of Toronto’s most established residential neighbourhoods. It sits in midtown between Bathurst Street and Avenue Road, south of Eglinton Avenue West, and it has kept the same calm character for nearly a century: mature trees, deep front lawns and a steady rhythm of substantial, well-kept homes.

There is no busy main street running through it. Everyday shopping happens in Forest Hill Village, a compact cluster of shops, cafés and services around Spadina Road and Lonsdale Road, and along Eglinton and St. Clair just outside the boundaries. The interior streets are residential, curving and quiet, with very little through traffic.

For buyers, the appeal is stability. Lot sizes, building quality and long ownership periods have kept the neighbourhood remarkably consistent, which is a large part of why it continues to hold its value.

A short history

Before it was Forest Hill, the high ground north of the old city was known as Spadina Heights. The name Spadina comes from the Ojibwe word ishpadinaa, meaning a hill or sudden rise in the land. The name Forest Hill came from John Wickson’s summer home, which stood near Eglinton Avenue and Old Forest Hill Road in the 1860s.

In 1923 residents petitioned to form their own municipality, and the Village of Forest Hill came into being on January 1, 1924. Its council quickly set the rules that still shape the area. In 1931 it voted to limit development to single-family homes designed by an architect, and early bylaws required a tree to be planted in front of each new house. The southern part of the village was largely built out by the 1930s.

Forest Hill joined Metropolitan Toronto in 1953 and was amalgamated into the City of Toronto in 1967. By then its pattern of large lots, architect-designed homes and leafy streets was firmly set, and it has changed only gradually since.

Who lives here

Forest Hill South attracts buyers who value privacy, space and long-term stability. Many owners are established professionals and business owners (in medicine, law, finance and real estate, among other fields) whose housing decisions are driven by lifestyle and school access rather than short-term gains. Others are long-time residents who bought decades ago, along with downsizers who want to stay close to familiar streets.

Ownership dominates and turnover is low. Rental housing is limited, and buyers who arrive tend to renovate or rebuild and then stay for many years. That long tenure gives the area a settled, familiar feel, with neighbours who recognize each other and routines built around school runs, dog walks and errands in the Village.

Schools are a major draw. Forest Hill Collegiate Institute and Forest Hill Junior and Senior Public School are both within the neighbourhood, and Upper Canada College and The Bishop Strachan School sit along Lonsdale Road.

Who it may not suit: buyers looking for nightlife, a lively main street at the door, a lower entry price or an investment property with strong rental yield. This is an end-user market with high barriers to entry.

Boundaries

Forest Hill South is in central Toronto, in midtown just north of Casa Loma. The City of Toronto’s neighbourhood boundaries follow Eglinton Avenue West to the north and Bathurst Street to the west. To the east, the line runs along Elmsthorpe Avenue, the Beltline Trail, Avenue Road and Oriole Parkway, then steps west along Lonsdale Road to Spadina Road. To the south, it stops just short of St. Clair Avenue West.

Neighbouring areas include Forest Hill North across Eglinton, Humewood–Cedarvale across Bathurst, Casa Loma to the south, and Yonge–Eglinton and Deer Park to the east.

Major roads define the edges, while the interior streets curve and wind, which keeps traffic down and gives the neighbourhood a contained, private feel. Most of the area is within a short walk of Forest Hill Village at Spadina and Lonsdale, and the busier commercial strips on Eglinton and St. Clair are close at hand.

Architecture & housing mix

Forest Hill South is a low-density neighbourhood of large detached homes on generous lots. Most of the original houses were built between the 1920s and the 1940s, when village rules required every house to be designed by an architect. The result is a varied but cohesive streetscape: Tudor Revival homes with steep gables and half-timbering, Georgian and Colonial Revival houses with symmetrical brick façades, and English cottage and Arts and Crafts influences, usually in brick or stone.

Over the past few decades, many homes have been extensively renovated, and a growing number of older or smaller houses have been replaced with custom builds. New homes range from traditional and neoclassical designs to contemporary and transitional architecture, generally set back from the street behind mature trees and hedges.

Semi-detached homes and townhouses are rare. Condominium buildings are concentrated at the edges, mainly along Lonsdale Road and Heath Street West near Spadina Road, and on the Eglinton and St. Clair corridors. Many are older low- and mid-rise buildings with large suites, and a handful of newer boutique projects have been added near the perimeter.

For buyers, this mix means a choice between a restored original home with period detail, a renovated house with modern systems, or a recent custom build, with prices that reflect lot size and condition as much as interior space.

Daily life

Daily life in Forest Hill South is built around routine rather than destinations. Mornings start with walks under the tree canopy, school drop-offs and a coffee in Forest Hill Village, where Spadina Road and Lonsdale Road are lined with independent shops, cafés, a small grocer, banks and professional services. The Village is compact, but it covers most everyday needs within a short walk.

For more choice, Eglinton Avenue West at the north edge has a wider mix of restaurants, shops and services, and St. Clair Avenue West to the south has larger grocery stores around St. Clair West station. The Forest Hill branch of the Toronto Public Library is on Eglinton Avenue West at Vesta Drive.

Green space is never far away. The Kay Gardner Beltline Trail runs along the northeast edge of the neighbourhood on the route of an old railway line, and the Cedarvale and Nordheimer ravines lie just to the west and south, along with Sir Winston Churchill Park at Spadina and St. Clair. Evenings are noticeably quieter than in most of central Toronto, which is a large part of the appeal.

Transit

Inside the neighbourhood, most people walk. The streets are quiet, and the Village, schools and parks are close together, so short trips rarely need a car.

Rapid transit runs along two edges. Line 1 Yonge–University stops at St. Clair West station, just south of the neighbourhood between Bathurst Street and Tweedsmuir Avenue, where it connects with the 512 St. Clair streetcar. Line 5 Eglinton, which opened in February 2026, runs under Eglinton Avenue West at the north edge, with stations at Bathurst Street (Forest Hill station), Chaplin Crescent and Avenue Road, and it connects with Line 1 at Cedarvale station to the west.

The 33 Forest Hill bus runs through the neighbourhood to St. Clair West station, and the 7 Bathurst bus runs along the western edge. Drivers can reach the Allen Road from Eglinton Avenue West, and many households still drive for longer trips across the city.

Schools

Forest Hill South is known for its schools. Forest Hill Collegiate Institute and Forest Hill Junior and Senior Public School are inside the neighbourhood, and two of Canada’s best-known independent schools, Upper Canada College and The Bishop Strachan School, are on Lonsdale Road.

School boundaries change. Confirm eligibility for a specific address with the school board.

Parks & green space

Forest Hill South is a neighbourhood of private gardens and tree-lined streets rather than large parks, but some of midtown’s best green space sits right at its edges. The Kay Gardner Beltline Trail offers a long, flat route for walking, running and cycling, and the Cedarvale and Nordheimer ravines provide wooded trails a few minutes away.