If you go west towards Keele Street across the GO Barrie corridor, the area has surprisingly good bones from a walkability perspective. There are walkable main street retail areas on Eglinton, Keele, and nearby Rogers Road, though they're typically lower-rise and less architecturally distinguished than on more established main streets like Queen and Bloor in the west end.

The residential streets tend to have more density than you'd expect, which bodes well for both long-term neighbourhood vitality and development potential. You can find churches, monuments, and an architectural gem of a library on its quiet hilly streets. There's a lot of character that's waiting to be discovered here.

Unfortunately, the walkable retail areas in the neighbourhood lost their vitality decades ago. Many locals just started to drive everywhere, adopting a more suburban lifestyle. No particularly ambitious BIAs emerged, resulting in little in the way of public realm improvements and community events in the main street areas. The LRT construction was the final nail in the coffin for a lot of local businesses, though it now has great potential to revitalize the area as well and to help it realize its potential as a unique and vibrant part of the city.
 
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junctionist said:
If you go west towards Keele Street across the GO Barrie corridor, the area has surprisingly good bones from a walkability perspective. There are walkable main street retail areas on Eglinton, Keele, and nearby Rogers Road, though they're typically lower-rise and less architecturally distinguished than on more established main streets like Queen and Bloor in the west end.

The residential streets tend to have more density than you'd expect, which bodes well for both long-term neighbourhood vitality and development potential. You can find churches, monuments, and an architectural gem of a library on its quiet hilly streets. There's a lot of character that's waiting to be discovered here.

Unfortunately, the walkable retail areas in the neighbourhood lost their vitality decades ago. Many locals just started to drive everywhere, adopting a more suburban lifestyle. No particularly ambitious BIAs emerged, resulting in little in the way of public realm improvements and community events in the main street areas. The LRT construction was the final nail in the coffin for a lot of local businesses, though it now has great potential to revitalize the area as well and to help it realize its potential as a unique and vibrant part of the city.
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I wouldn't call that library an architectural gem 😄
 
Towered said:
I wouldn't call that library an architectural gem 😄
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It has a very satisfying combination of rare Flemish-bond masonry and sleek black-framed curtain wall. The landscape design is nicely integrated with the architecture as well.
 
junctionist said:
It has a very satisfying combination of rare Flemish-bond masonry and sleek black-framed curtain wall. The landscape design is nicely integrated with the architecture as well.
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It's ordinary at best, and certainly not worth going out of one's way to travel to see...
 
Towered said:
It's ordinary at best, and certainly not worth going out of one's way to travel to see...
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I mean, it's a former Honda dealership that was turned into a Shoppers 15 years ago and will remain as such for many more to come. I don't think anyone is going out of any way to visit it...

Anecdotally, Oben has been cutting rates at The Fairbank due to very slow absorption. Even more anecdotally we got priced out of a house just east of here last summer; a bidding war I'm glad, in hindsight, we lost.
 
Towered said:
It's ordinary at best, and certainly not worth going out of one's way to travel to see...
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I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see it unless you really like Flemish bond brickwork, but there is a lot of finesse to the design that makes it a local landmark. The same could be said about quite a few library branches that have good architecture as well, though.
 
junctionist said:
If you go west towards Keele Street across the GO Barrie corridor, the area has surprisingly good bones from a walkability perspective. There are walkable main street retail areas on Eglinton, Keele, and nearby Rogers Road, though they're typically lower-rise and less architecturally distinguished than on more established main streets like Queen and Bloor in the west end.

The residential streets tend to have more density than you'd expect, which bodes well for both long-term neighbourhood vitality and development potential. You can find churches, monuments, and an architectural gem of a library on its quiet hilly streets. There's a lot of character that's waiting to be discovered here.

Unfortunately, the walkable retail areas in the neighbourhood lost their vitality decades ago. Many locals just started to drive everywhere, adopting a more suburban lifestyle. No particularly ambitious BIAs emerged, resulting in little in the way of public realm improvements and community events in the main street areas. The LRT construction was the final nail in the coffin for a lot of local businesses, though it now has great potential to revitalize the area as well and to help it realize its potential as a unique and vibrant part of the city.
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Hash !
One of these "gems" can become heritage, and that will end all hopes of redeveloping this area.
 
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