Casa Loma’s bucolic hills disguise its proximity to downtown

• toronto real estate board overview
• located in sector: C02
• average 2012 sale prices
• all homes: $951,361
• detached houses: $1,080,077
• semi-detached houses: $1,135,500
• townhomes: $495,000
• apartments: $824,765
• neighbourhood map: see map

The neighbourhood’s hills and ravines attract the city’s luminaries. Dr. William Baldwin’s 1818 home is now preserved as the Spadina House museum, while the estates of other prominent Toronto families, like the Eatons, are long gone. The area experienced a significant shift when Henry Pellatt came calling in 1911, convincing usually tasteful architect E. J. Lennox to build the patchwork that is Casa Loma (now one of the city’s main tourist attractions). After that project famously went belly up, the lands attached to the castle were subdivided, and many of the stately homes in the immediate vicinity were then constructed in the shadows of the gaudy castle. Austin Terrace, Warren Road, Poplar Plains, Russell Hill, Clarendon and Spadina Road are lined with some of the most impressive homes in the city. The area may be firmly rooted in the early twentieth century, but the neighbourhood has made room for new developments. New condos along Davenport, Spadina and St. Clair West offer ravine views and quick subway access.

• NEIGHBOURHOOD MAP

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• LIBRARY AND SCHOOLS
• LIBRARIES
• Wychwood
  1431 Bathurst Street, 393-7683
• SCHOOLS (PUBLIC)
• Hillcrest Community School
  44 Hilton Avenue, 393-9700
• Brown Junior Public School
  454 Avenue Road, 393-1560
• SCHOOLS (PRIVATE)
• Waldorf Academy Private Schoo
  250 Madison Avenue, 962-6447
• The Mabin School
  50 Poplar Plains Road, 964-9594
• Arrowsmith School
  245 St. Clair Avenue West, 963- 4962
• The Bishop Strachan School
  298 Lonsdale Road, 483-4325

• neighbourhood hot spots

Corner House Restaurant
Since it opened in 1971, this lovely continental resto, which makes “most romantic” lists every year, has no doubt been the setting for countless Forest Hill first dates. 501 Davenport Rd., 416-923-2604.

Scaramouche
Set on the side of the hill with a great outlook to the south, Scaramouche is one of the few culinary survivors from the heady ’80s. Forest Hillers and Rosedalians have just one more year to enjoy the view—at the end of 2010 Scaramouche’s long-standing lease is up. 1 Benvenuto Pl., 416-961-8011.

Tarragon Theatre
In its almost 40-year history, Tarragon has premiered works by Judith Thompson, Jason Sherman and Morris Panych, among others. 30 Bridgman Ave., 416-531-1827.