Lawrence Avenue
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Lawrence Avenue is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
It is divided into east and west portions by Yonge Street, the dividing point of east-west streets in Toronto. It begins in the east the Rouge River, east of Port Union on the former Toronto-Pickering Town Line. In the west, it ends in Weston at Scarlett Road, beside the Humber River. From there, there is a choice between The Westway, an arterial road developed in the 1960s, running west to Martin Grove Road, and Dixon Road a former Etobicoke Township concession road leading to Toronto Pearson International Airport, then continuing in Mississauga, Ontario as Airport Road (a north-south concession), and accessed from Lawrence via the northern portion of Scarlett Road.
Lawrence Avenue east is interrupted at Bayview Avenue where it meets the West Branch of the Don River. The road curves southwards towards Bayview, where the roadway continues into York University's Glendon College
A detour north on Bayview leads to Post Road, and a connection back to Lawrence Avenue on the east side of the valley. This detour runs through Toronto's richest neighborhood, The Bridle Path, also the name of a local street. The Bridle Path is one of Toronto's most affluent neighbourhoods and the decision of the city not to build what would have to be a massive bridge over the valley, thus maintaining Lawrence Avenue as a continuous principal arterial road, has spared the neighbourhood from the noise and bustle it would otherwise be subjected to.
East of Leslie Street, Lawrence becomes a principal arterial road, passing through Don Mills, an early post World War II planned community. East of the East Branch of the Don River is the Lawrence Avenue exit of the Don Valley Parkway. When this expressway was constructed in the 1960s, Lawrence was rebuilt between the Woodbine Avenue allowance, and Victoria Park Avenue, as a "jog eliminator" between the former Concession roads of North York and Scarborough Townships. This portion to Kingston Road (former Ontario Provincial Highway 2), is a minimum of six lanes wide. Lawrence Avenue served as the "Base Line" for the Scarborough Township Survey in the 1800s, and remains a key road in that area.
Lawrence Avenue was named for Jacob Lawrence, a tanner and farmer in the area of Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue, site of today's Lawrence Subway Station on the Yonge-University-Spadina Subway line.
There is a Lawrence West Subway Station at William R. Allen Road, and a Lawrence East station of the Scarborough RT between Kennedy Road and Midland Avenue. GO Transit has two commuter rail stations on Lawrence Avenue: Rouge Hill (GO Station), on the Lakeshore Line at 6251 Lawrence Avenue East; and Weston (GO Station) on the Georgetown Line.
Contents |
[edit] Neighborhoods
[edit] Buildings/Sites
- Amesbury Park Community Centre.
- CIBC, 750 Lawrence West; major computer centre.
- Cedarbrae Mall.
- Winston Churchill CI, named after Winston Churchill.
- Don Mills Centre.
- Don Mills CI.
- Edwards Gardens.
- Glendon College, York University.
- Havergal College.
- Lawrence subway station.
- Lawrence East RT station.
- Lawrence Park CI.
- Lawrence Plaza, one of the earliest plazas in Toronto.
- Lawrence Square Mall - former RS Simpson Limited warehouse.
- Lawrence West subway station.
- McGregor Park Community Centre and Arena.
- Sir Oliver Mowat CI, named after Oliver Mowat.
- Rouge Hill (GO Station)
- Scarborough Hospital, Scarborough General division.
- David and Mary Thomson CI, named after Scarborough's first European (Scottish) born pioneer families.
- Toronto French School.
- Weston (GO Station).
