Summerhill

Around the Neighbourhood

Cultural landmarks: the Summerhill LCBO, set in the restored 1916 North Toronto rail station with its landmark clock tower and stone courtyard, is a destination in its own right for vintage wine and aged single malt. The station and its tower are the symbol of the neighbourhood.

Hot local spots: Summerhill Market is the much-loved gourmet grocer, Pisces Gourmet handles the smoked fish and caviar, and Seahorse, a new seafood room at 1226 Yonge from the team behind Piano Piano and Rodney’s Oyster House, has given the strip a buzzy new table.

Parks & green space: Ramsden Park anchors the south end at Yonge and Roxborough, and the Rosedale ravine and David A. Balfour Park trails are a short walk away.

Your Typical Neighbour

Summerhill is affluent and established, equal parts old-money house owners on the winding streets and professionals and downsizers in the upscale condos along Yonge. It is highly educated, incomes rank among the city’s highest, and households skew older and settled rather than transient. The condo and apartment stock on Yonge lifts the renter share, but the side streets are firmly owner-occupied and tend to stay in families. It is quiet, polished and not remotely flashy about its money.

Source: City of Toronto Neighbourhood Profile, Yonge-St.Clair (#97), 2021 Census

What We Love

The mix of grand and convenient. You get winding, tree-lined streets and serious houses, but also a subway stop and a retail strip that does the actual business of life: a proper butcher, a patisserie, gourmet groceries and the best wine store in the city. Ramsden Park and the Rosedale ravine give you green space minutes from Yonge, and the whole place feels calm and looked-after without feeling like a museum. New rooms like Seahorse show the strip still evolves.

What We Don’t Love

It is expensive, full stop, and there is very little entry-level stock to soften that. The Yonge strip draws weekend crowds and the parking that comes with them. It is also a quiet, grown-up neighbourhood, so anyone after nightlife or a younger scene will find it sleepy after dinner. And the housing is either a grand house or a Yonge-corridor condo, with not much in between.

Real Estate

Summerhill is grand old houses on the winding residential streets, mostly Victorian and Edwardian, many beautifully restored, with upscale condos and rental buildings concentrated along Yonge. Detached homes here run well into the millions, semis are scarce, and the condos are where most first purchases and downsizes happen. Supply is tight and the houses change hands slowly, because people who land on these streets tend to stay put. New to the market? Start with our First-Time Buyer guide.

(Current prices and days on market appear in the live statistics block below, updated quarterly.)

Schools

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Cottingham Jr Public School
Brown Jr Public School
The York School
Whitney Junior Public School
Hillcrest Community School

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

De La Salle College
The Mabin School
The Linden School
Arrowsmith School
The Dalton School

For school rankings and Fraser Institute scores, see our interactive Toronto school map.

Transit

Summerhill station on Line 1 sits right in the neighbourhood, with Bloor a few minutes south and downtown about 15. Buses run along the cross streets, and drivers reach the ravine routes, Mount Pleasant and the rest of midtown easily. For most residents the subway does the job, which is part of the appeal.