Lytton Park
THIS ARTICLE BY DAVID DUNKELMAN ON LYTTON PARK APPEARED IN THE MOST RECENT WEB NEWSLETTER FOR SOTHEBY'S INTERNATIONAL REALTY CANADA.
Toronto's upscale Lytton Park neighbourhood was mostly rural with a few landmark country estates dotting the landscape when the Metropolitan Street Railway began a one-horse carriage service to the area in 1886. The railway company speculating on future land development for the area purchased the 200-acre Beatty farm creating the Glen Grove Estates subdivision. The oldest houses in the neighbourhood along Glengrove Avenue were built in the 1890s and early 1900s. Lytton Park was formerly part of the Town of North Toronto that was annexed by the City of Toronto in 1912. Amalgamation with the City of Toronto brought much needed municipal services to the area, which spurred on residential development with most houses built between 1920 and 1945.
Today, Lytton Park is generally defined as encompassing the area from Yonge Street to a block or so west of Mona Drive on the other side of Avenue Road where the former municipal boundaries of Old Toronto and North York aligned. Lytton Park extends south to Briar Hill where it meets up with the Allenby neighbourhood and reaches as far north as Lawrence Avenue. The catchment areas become very important as Lytton Park public schools are a big drawing card and are at capacity and therefore closed to optional attendance. Best to check this with your Realtor. These schools include the highly regarded: John Ross Robertson elementary school, Glenview Middle school and Lawrence Park Collegiate High School. Havergal College private school and Blessed Sacrament catholic school also draw families to this neighbourhood.
Business executives, stockbrokers, doctors, lawyers, and University of Toronto professors are all attracted to this neighbourhood as it is a very convenient twenty minute commute either by car or public transit to downtown Toronto's financial, business, medical and university districts. Highway 401 is just five minutes north of the neighbourhood connecting you to all parts of greater Toronto. This is also a very pedestrian friendly neighbourhood. Excellent shops and restaurants abound on Yonge Street and Avenue Road and along Eglinton Avenue that are all within walking distance.
Lytton park - the park off Avenue Road from which this neighbourhood takes its name feature public tennis courts and lawn bowling with the Herbert Begg strolling gardens across the street. A plethora of recreational pursuits can be found at Otter Creek Park that has a twin outdoor skating rink that is used for skateboarding in the summertime. The adjacent schoolyards include a running track, baseball diamond and popular tobogganing hills.
The streets in this established neighbourhood are graced by a mature tree canopy of oak, sugar and silver maples mixed in with spruce and a myriad of other tree species. This green leafy backdrop shades the beautiful brick: Georgian, Colonial, American Foursquare, Victorian and Tudor style homes that are the stated preference here. Most lots are 40 or 50 feet wide with varying depths ranging from 100 to 170 feet at the rear of the house. Almost all the houses are detached and most have garages. These house start at one million dollars and can go as high as four million. A pocket of smaller entry-level houses with 25-foot frontages can be found at the south end of the neighbourhood close to Yonge Street.