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Help uncover Toronto’s hidden gems

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As many of you already know, Spacing runs a regular feature in our magazine called “Hidden Gems.” The articles in each issue usually focuses on a public space like a parkette, alley, pond, or roundabout. The idea is to highlight a space in the city that is usually overlooked but has a specific charm to it. We’ve written about modernist washrooms along the Humber River, small streets in Corktown, and memorial benches in the Annex.

A good example — but never featured in the magazine — is Trenton Place, a small set of one-floor, cottage-style houses just off of Cowan Avenue in the Jameson and Lake Shore area of Parkdale (photo above). There are eight units on this property that normally fits just two semi-detatched homes. A pedestrian-only walkway in front of the homes, which used to be an alley, has flowing gardens and charming wooden benches. There is a special feeling when you stumble upon it for the first time. And there a loads of these type of places scattered all over Toronto.

We are trying to gather a decent size list so that we can begin to feature Hidden Gems on our blog and web sites as well as the magazine. We want you to nominate a place or space anywhere within Toronto’s boundaries that we should feature. You can leave a comment or send us an email at hiddengems@spacing.ca.

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9 comments

  1. I love the new Hidden Gems section in the magazine!!

    There’s some neat laneway-esque housing on Glasgow St, near Spadina and College…I think you may have mentioned that already, though.

    There’s also a crazy decorated garage in an alleyway near Barton and Manning.

  2. There is a really cool pedestrian/cycling bridge over the Humber River north of Dundas here:

    http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=r899sb8c6mzn&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=28295251&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&where1=toronto%2C%20ontario&encType=1

    There is also a cool ravine nearby on the west side of the Humber, which you can access from the south-west corner of Royal York Road and Edgehill Road.

    I recall about 15 years ago they installed speed bumps on the bridge to slow down speeding cyclists.

  3. I’ve referred to this in the past: the front porch moose head on the E side of Concord, S of Hallam…

  4. One of my favorite spots in Toronto is Draper St. just off of Front beside the Globe and Mail. It’s like a little time capsule of what that part of Toronto used to be in the late 1800s.

  5. The Wellesley Cottages, located in Cabbagetown, just east of Parliament, off a laneway running north from Wellesley Str E.

  6. I wish they’d rebuild that narrow bridge so that they wouldn’t need those bumps and “Cyclists dismount signs”.

  8. Trenton Terrace, former officers barracks.We had a Victorian high tea there a few years ago and we to fight the crowds back with sticks it was so popular.

  9. Raglan Terrace in Kensington, the ‘street’ behind the Ralph Thornton Centre on Queen E near DeGrassi, and Hillcrest Park Ave. at the end of Amelia in Cabbagetown. They all leave you pondering just what is the meaning of ‘street’. The last one especially, where the only vehicle access is by back lane.

    Imagine two lines of houses facing each other across their front gardens with only a footpath between and serviced by back lanes. Would the lane then be the street?