Trinity–Bellwoods.

Trinity–Bellwoods suits buyers who want to live in the city rather than commute into it. Most days here run on foot: coffee on Ossington, groceries in Kensington Market or on Dundas, an evening game of tennis or a skate in the park. Buyers drawn to century homes look here for original details such as high ceilings, bay windows, transoms and stained glass, and accept narrow lots and older systems as part of the trade. Others come for the condos and lofts along Queen, Dundas and Ossington, which offer a lock-and-leave option a block or two from the park.

Owners who work downtown can take a streetcar or cycle to the Financial District, and Toronto Western Hospital and the University of Toronto’s St. George campus are within easy reach to the east. The park is a draw for dog owners too, since the bowl is one of the city’s best-known off-leash areas. A good share of houses have been divided into two or more units over the years, so buyers can find a house with a rental suite or a larger house to convert back to a single home.

Who it may not suit: buyers who need a private driveway or space for two cars, a large lot, quiet evenings on the main streets or a newer house with modern systems; summer weekends in and around the park are busy.

Most houses in Trinity–Bellwoods went up in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when builders filled the streets around the Trinity College grounds. The typical home is a tall, narrow brick house on a narrow lot, usually a semi or part of a row, often in the bay-and-gable form that defines Victorian Toronto: a two-and-a-half or three-storey front with a projecting bay and a steep gable above. Gothic Revival details appear on some of the older houses, and many keep stained glass, decorative trim and a front porch. Ceilings are often high, and many homes back onto rear lanes, some with garages.

Shaw Street is the exception in scale. Its boulevard section is roughly twice as wide as the neighbouring streets and carries some of the area’s largest Victorian houses, including detached homes. Houses on the streets that border the park look straight onto it. Queen Street West keeps a long run of two- and three-storey Victorian storefronts with apartments above, and the City studied this stretch for a West Queen West heritage conservation district in 2017.

Newer buildings are mostly low and mid-rise: boutique condos and soft lofts on Queen, Dundas and Ossington, and a few hard lofts in converted older buildings. Many houses have been renovated or divided into units over the years, and the City’s laneway and garden suite rules can add options where a lot qualifies.

Daily life centres on Trinity Bellwoods Park. Mornings start with dog walkers in the bowl and runners on the paths, and on warm weekends the lawns fill with picnics and pickup games. The park has eight tennis courts, three ball diamonds, volleyball courts, a playground and wading pool, and an outdoor artificial ice rink for skating and shinny in winter, when the slopes double as toboggan hills. In spring the cherry trees draw crowds, and the park’s white squirrels are a local landmark. From May to October, the Trinity Bellwoods Farmers’ Market sets up on Tuesday afternoons at the Dundas and Shaw corner of the park.

The main streets cover the rest. Queen Street West has galleries, design and clothing shops, cafés and restaurants; Ossington Avenue and Dundas Street West are lined with bars, bakeries and dining rooms; and College Street’s Little Italy is a short walk north. Kensington Market, just east across Bathurst, is the go-to for produce, cheese, spices and baked goods. The Trinity Community Recreation Centre on Crawford Street runs City programs with an indoor pool, gym and running track, and the College/Shaw library branch is at the north edge of the neighbourhood.