Yorkdale–Glen Park.

Yorkdale–Glen Park draws buyers who want a house with a yard and a driveway without giving up the subway. The streets south of Lawrence Avenue West are mostly detached bungalows and two-storey homes on regular city lots, which makes the area a common choice for a first house, for a home with room for a basement suite, or for a property to renovate or rebuild over time. Older homes being replaced by larger custom builds are now a regular sight on many blocks. Condo and rental apartments along Lawrence Avenue West and Dufferin Street offer another way in, with Lawrence West station and Yorkdale close by. Commuters have options: Line 1 south to downtown or north to York University, Highway 401 and Allen Road for driving, and GO buses from the Yorkdale Bus Terminal. Day to day, life here is practical rather than polished. Errands happen on Dufferin Street and Marlee Avenue, outdoor swimming and skating at Glen Long Park, and bigger shopping trips at Yorkdale. Who it may not suit: buyers looking for a walkable main street with cafés and nightlife, a ravine setting, or full quiet on the blocks closest to Highway 401 and Allen Road.

Most of Glen Park was built out after the Second World War, and the streets still show it. The typical house is a detached brick bungalow or storey-and-a-half from the 1950s or early 1960s, set back behind a front lawn with a private drive, often with a side entrance that makes a lower-level suite easier to add. Raised bungalows and plain two-storey brick homes appear throughout, and many have been updated with new windows, porches and finished basements. On a growing number of lots, the original house has been replaced by a larger two-storey custom home, so a block can mix a modest postwar bungalow with a new build next door. Apartment buildings are concentrated on the main roads: low-rise and mid-rise rental buildings from the postwar decades along Lawrence Avenue West and Dufferin Street, plus newer condominium buildings on the same corridors. The north end is shaped by Yorkdale Shopping Centre, opened in 1964, and the 1978 subway stations along the Allen, including Yorkdale station, designed by the architect Arthur Erickson.

Everyday errands centre on Dufferin Street and Marlee Avenue, where grocers, bakeries, pharmacies, banks and services line the blocks between Lawrence Avenue West and Glencairn Avenue. Plazas along Lawrence Avenue West add larger stores, and Yorkdale Shopping Centre covers fashion, electronics, department stores and a cinema in one stop at the north end. For recreation, Glen Long Park is the local hub, with an outdoor pool, an artificial ice rink, a playground and the Glen Long Community Centre, which runs fitness and recreation programs in its gym. Wenderly Park has a ball diamond and a playground, and Viewmount Park adds a ball diamond and a members’ tennis club with lit courts. For longer walks or rides, the York Beltline Trail starts at Marlee Avenue to the south and follows the old Belt Line rail corridor west, and Cedarvale Park’s ravine is reachable by heading south along the Allen. The nearest Toronto Public Library branches are Barbara Frum, east across the Allen near Bathurst Street, and Maria A. Shchuka at Eglinton Avenue West and Dufferin Street, both large branches with bigger collections.