Richard Silver

Toronto Neighborhoods: Kensington Market

To my mind the ”Kings and Queens” of Kensington have got it all: Living in the centre of the city in Victorian houses, lofts and laneway housing. They can go from the AGO  to Chinatown , shop for bagels, thousands of vegetables and cheeses, run home and then head off to the Theatre district  in 30 minutes.

Tour the alleys,dim sum restaurants and the incredible cultural diversity that has existed in Kensington Market  for years. You cannot beat the prices for clothes, food and those soon-to-be “family heirlooms” that you may be selling at next year’s yard sale.

If you have visitors in from out of town stop dragging them to the CN Tower  and spend the afternoon walking Kensington Market. The market area is open seven days a week including holidays (www.kensington-market.ca). If it catches your interest, there are tons of housing options close by. It is really the beating heart of Toronto.

Converted buildings like the Kensington Market Lofts  are usually more reasonable per square foot than new condos (but keep an eye on those maintenance fees). Multiple-generation living abounds on nearby streets, perennial centre of new immigrant communities of Jews, Italians, Portuguese and Chinese. Many homes have summer kitchens in the basement and parents’ flats on the second and third floors. Houses here are valued in terms of the number of bedrooms rather than the amount of renovations.

Streets to the north of College  have got some narrow but cheaper Victorian semis and attached homes. For the growing number of same-sex “kiddy couples” the area schools and diversity are huge bonuses.

If order and cleanliness is your thing, Kensington Market is not for you. Confusion reigns and a good sense of humour is a must.

Reprinted from INToronto Magazine 

More Neighborhoods at http://torontoism.com/2010/07/02/downtown-toronto-neighborhoods-leslieville/

This entry was posted on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 11:53 am and is filed under Around TORONTO, Neighborhoods, Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. Larry Bringer said at July 2nd, 2010 at 1:07 pm

   Where do you find the Magazine “INToronto Magazine..”
   It looks like it would have a lot of interesting articles…What is a Kiddy Couple..??

   Do you know anything about the house on 18 Castle Frank Cres that is for sale…it is a multiple listing so I thought you would know about it..

2. Richard Silver said at July 2nd, 2010 at 2:15 pm

   I do Larry…it is a triplex for $1,599,000 I think…

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Email (will not be published) (required)

Website

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail