Join LRA President Geoff Kettel and Mitch Bubulj as they lead a Jane’s Walk through Bennington Heights.
When: Sunday, May 4, 2 p.m.
Where: Meet at Evergreen Gardens Park – just west of Bayview Avenue and south of Moore Avenue
Bennington Heights was first settled in the 1870s by John Cudmore and Daniel Ryan, who operated successful market gardens on their properties until the area was developed in 1889. Their tomatoes were some of the best in Toronto, and they sold exclusively to the Queen’s Hotel, Toronto’s finest hostelry located where the Royal York Hotel now stands.
The Cudmore farm was subdivided for residential development in 1889 and again in 1912. Ryan’s property, located just north of the Cudmore farm, was also subdivided in stages, first in 1891 and again in 1946. South of, and adjacent to the Town of Leaside (incorporated in 1913), Bennington was part of the Township of East York from 1925 until Leaside and East York united in 1967 to form the Borough of East York. Today Leaside shares a postal code (M4G) with Bennington.
The development of Heathbridge Park, the northern and central parts of Bennington Heights, was influenced by its early establishment as a Co-operative Residential Community (CRC), designed by well-known architect James A. Murray and his students in 1946.
Bennington Heights has the ambience of a mid-20th century residential neighbourhood, an enclave like a more modern Wychwood Park, with its layout including winding roads and cul-de-sacs: connecting streets – Evergreen Gardens, Heath Street East; circular roads around common space – Heathbridge Park, Orchard Green and cul de sacs – Heathbridge, Windmill, Garden Circle.
Recently, Bennington Heights has faced the development trends common in many Toronto neighbourhoods, including the replacement of original housing and townhouse development on Bayview Heights Drive.
Come and join Geoff and Mitch on Sunday and find out more about the history and design of this unique neighbourhood.
See more info in the latest edition of Leaside Life.
