Friday 2 November 2007

Presenting Toronto Neighbourhoods: Davisville Village

Davisville Village is named after John Davis, who immigrated to Canada from Staffordshire, England in 1840 and took an active public role in the community, becoming its largest employer by far. In fact, the former Davisville Post Office once operated by John Davis and later by his grandson, is still standing on the northeast corner of Yonge & Davisville.

This centrally located neighbourhood has always been popular with singles, young couples and families for its excellent recreational facilities, outstanding shopping districts, and a surprisingly active nightlife, which includes bars, pubs, restaurants, dinner theatre, clubs, and movie theatres. Professional and business services such as banking, dental & health care, printing etc. are widely available on Yonge Street between St. Clair and Eglinton Avenues.

The vast majority of Davisville houses were built in the 1920's and 1930's. The houses west of Mount Pleasant Road are mostly large two and three-storey English Cottage and Edwardian-style homes. The houses east of Mount Pleasant Road are made up primarily of smaller detached and semi-detached houses and bungalows. This part of the neighbourhood also contains a handful of historical homes from the late 1800's, and a growing number of custom built homes.

Davisville's main shopping district is on Mount Pleasant Road. This stretch of stores is highlighted by a large group of antique and collectable shops that attract people from all over the city. Home decorating stores, children's clothing and toy stores, and an excellent selection of restaurants all add to the ambience of this street. Davisville residents also shop on Yonge Street and Bayview Avenue. These two streets contain a plethora of gift shops, clothing and accessory stores, bakeries, cafes, and coffee shops.

Notable shopping/dining addresses include:

  • The Art Shoppe, a 70 000 sq ft combination gallery/fine furniture/interior design store at 2131 Yonge Street that offers the largest selection of fine furniture in North America.
  • Paper Moon, a fine stationery store at 2003 Yonge St.
  • The Bow & Arrow pub, an English style pub at 1954 Yonge St. with an excellent selection of microbrewed beers.
  • Grano Restaurant, a rustic yet elegant Italian restaurant at 2035 Yonge St. offering a very popular antipasto bar and special breads baked on the premises.

Davisville Park is the social and recreational centre of this neighbourhood. During the day, it is a beehive of activity with preschoolers enjoying the Davisville Park playground and wading pool.

Davisville Park's six tennis courts are used by the Davisville Tennis Club on evenings and weekends. This club has an active house league and tournament schedule. Adjacent to the tennis courts is the Davisville Park baseball diamond, which is extensively used by children and adult baseball leagues.

South of this neighbourhood is the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which is a place of great natural beauty containing one of the finest arboretums in North America, large flower gardens, birds & wildlife, and many artistic sculptures and memorials. There is local bus service on Mount Pleasant Road, Yonge Street, Davisville Avenue and Eglinton Avenue. These bus routes connect passengers to the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line. The Davisville and the Eglinton subway stations at Yonge Street are within a reasonable walking distance of this neighbourhood.

This area offers motorists quick access to downtown Toronto via either Mount Pleasant Road or Yonge Street. Toronto's highways and expressways are located within a twenty minute drive of Davisville Village.

To read the rest of the series, please visit the Toronto neighbourhoods guide.


About the Author

Toronto realtor Julie Kinnear has been helping people in Toronto sell and buy their homes since 1994 and for the last eight years, Julie has been one of their top award winners every year. What motivates Julie, is producing top results for her clients. Her cheerful enthusiasm, her expertise and her genuine interest in the well being of others have created a lively referral business.

0 ความคิดเห็น: