Junction Triangle

Around the Neighbourhood

Cultural landmarks: MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, anchors the neighbourhood from the historic Tower Automotive Building at 158 Sterling Road, with smaller galleries clustered along the same strip.

Hot local spots: Henderson Brewing and Halo Brewery both pour within the triangle, and Spaccio West, Terroni’s Italian grocery, cafe and kitchen, has taken over a big chunk of the old factory at 128A Sterling Road. Boulderz Climbing is here for when you want to do something with the pint you have not had yet, and Ruru Baked scoops custard ice cream over at the Bloor and Lansdowne edge.

Parks & green space: The West Toronto Railpath is the headline green corridor, doubling as the neighbourhood’s main walking and cycling spine, with Dovercourt Park and Wallace-Emerson Park a short walk south and east.

Your Typical Neighbour

The Junction Triangle still has its long-time European families, and you will meet plenty of them on the side streets. Layered on top are the creative and design-minded buyers who got priced out of Parkdale and Roncesvalles and came north looking for a loft or a fixer Victorian. It skews toward working-age adults and young families, with a real mix of long-tenured homeowners and renters in divided houses and converted buildings. Officially, the Junction Triangle falls within the City of Toronto’s Dovercourt-Wallace Emerson-Junction neighbourhood (#93), a larger profile area that also covers Bloordale and Wallace Emerson, so its numbers describe a wider area than the triangle alone. As of the 2016 City profile, that neighbourhood had a population of about 36,625, a working-age-heavy age mix and a density just under 10,000 people per square kilometre.

Source: City of Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles, Dovercourt-Wallace Emerson-Junction (#93)

What We Love

The Railpath. It is genuinely the best thing about living here: a car-free trail running the length of the neighbourhood that doubles as a commute, a dog walk and the reason you can get most places without touching a busy road. The Sterling Road strip is the other one. Having MOCA, two breweries and a proper Italian food hall inside walking distance, in buildings that used to make car parts and aluminum, is the kind of reinvention you cannot fake. And the housing still offers something the neighbours do not: real lofts and characterful Victorians at prices that, while no longer cheap, undercut The Junction and Roncesvalles.

What We Don’t Love

Parking. A lot of the most charming, most affordable houses are on narrow streets with street parking only, which gets old fast with a family and two cars. The railways that give the neighbourhood its shape also give it train noise, so listen at the times of day you would actually be home. A few pockets still feel rough around the edges, so visit at night before you commit. And because it is small with thin inventory in some housing types, the right place does not come up often, and when it does it tends to move quickly.

Real Estate

The housing story here is two stories side by side. The first is conversion: decades of industrial decline left behind factories and warehouses, and a lot of them are now loft condos, with others torn down for new townhouse rows. The second is the original fabric, narrow side streets lined with 1920s-era two and three-storey Victorians in every state from untouched to fully flipped. Many of those houses are divided into apartments, some fully tenanted as investments, others owner-occupied with a basement unit helping carry the mortgage. Buyers who want the lofts gravitate to the Sterling Road and Wallace Avenue side; buyers who want a house hunt the interior streets. Prices have climbed as renovated detached homes come up more often than they used to, and the live stats block below shows where the market sits this quarter. If the triangle does not have what you need, the neighbours are close: compare it with The Junction, Wallace Emerson and Roncesvalles, or browse current listings.

Schools

There are a lot of schools in and around the neighbourhood, both in the public and separate boards. Private or Montessori options will have you travelling a little.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

St. Cecilia Catholic School
Annette Street Public School
Perth Avenue Junior Public School
St.Luigi Catholic School
St.Rita Catholic School

SENIOR SCHOOLS

Lucy McCormick Sr. School

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

Transit

For a neighbourhood ringed by rail, transit is a strength. The Bloor GO and UP Express station puts Union and Pearson within a quick ride, Bloor-Lansdowne and Dundas West subway stations on Line 2 are close, and the triangle is wrapped in bus routes that feed the subway. Drivers can take Dupont, Bloor or Dundas downtown in roughly 15 minutes outside rush hour, though parking, as noted, is the catch once you are home.