Lawrence Park

The Origins and Development of Lawrence Park

1907 is the year that Lawrence Park began it’s first developments. John Lawrence, was the owner of the land, and it was also from whom the area received it’s name from. Dovercourt Land Building and Saving Company acquired the northern section of land from Mr. Lawrence, which is when the initial developments began.

Lawrence Park Landscape

Most of the houses in the neighbourhood were built between 1910 and 1940, however all the major developments weren’t completed until the 1950’s, which is when this district was officially completed. Unfortunately, the development of Lawrence Park were set back due to both of the world wars, as well as a recession, and a depression. Today, Lawrence Park is a very prosperous community, regardless of its setbacks.

The Lawrence Park neighbourhood is well known for it’s location in Toronto. It’s 400 feet above Lake Ontario, and is far from the cold winds off of the winter lake. The neighbourhood was also one of Toronto’s first organized garden suburbs. Another interesting thing about the neighbourhood is that it’s officially split into two halves: Lawrence Park North and Lawrence Park South.

The Lawrence Park houses vary in structure, you can find a variety of architectural styles like: English Cottage, Tudor Revival, Georgian, and Colonial style designs. These large estates were mainly built between 1910 and 1940, as said previously, however there’s also been new redevelopments that blend in very nicely with the brick-and-stone look of the neighbourhood. Whether the home is an original, or has been redeveloped, each home features:

• leaded glass windows

• high ceilings

• hardwood floors

• front lawn landscaping

• each home has a generous amount of land

• all renovations are kept minimal to preserve the beauty of these homes

Lawrence Park is known as one of Toronto’s most exclusive neighbourhoods, along side with Rosedale, and Forest Hill.

Toronto Night Sky

Aside from beautiful houses, the Lawrence Park neighbourhood also attracts people due to it’s great selection of high-end amenities within the area. You can find the following:

• exclusive social clubs

• large green space

• antique and boutique shops

• selection of fine restaurants

• marvellous schools

With everything that Lawrence Park offers, it’s no surprise that it’s one of the wealthiest and most developed neighbourhoods in Canada!

To further your understanding of the estates offered in the Lawrence Park neighbourhood, we’ll look at a recently listed house. Here are the features of this listing:

• 8 600 square feet of space

• three levels (basement, ground level, and upstairs)

• three bedrooms

• one nanny suite

• one entertainment room

• one spa/exercise room

• one wine cellar

• five fireplaces throughout the house

• heated hardwood floors

• a personal library

The house that was used for this example was was listed at $4 495 000. It’s easy to see that these houses are marketed towards affluent families.

Local park

Owning a vehicle is essential when living in the Lawrence Park neighbourhood. This is because all of the traffic in the area is residential, the closest grocery store is a five minute drive down the street. For people who prefer public transportation, there’s a bus route that runs along the outside of the neighbourhood.

Other Central Toronto Neighbourhoods: The Annex –Cabbagetown –Rosedale –Moore Park –North Toronto –Lawrence Park –Hoggs Hollow –Leaside –Summerhill – Regal Heights –Forest Hill –Chaplin Estates –Davisville Village –King West Village –Dovercourt Village