Bloor Street

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Bloor Street is a major east-west commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) in Toronto's east-end to the west-end and into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East of the DVP, Bloor Street becomes Danforth Avenue. The approximately 25 kilometre street contains a significant cross-sample of Toronto's ethnic communities. It is also home to the city's most exclusive shopping area. Locally, Bloor Street is often conceptualized as a "dividing line" between downtown and mid-town Toronto.

The street is named after Joseph Bloor (or Bloore), a developer of this area in the 19th century who founded the Village of Yorkville in 1830. He is buried at Necropolis Cemetery on Bayview Avenue and Rosedale Valley Road.

The Bloor-Danforth subway line runs along the Toronto portion of the roadway between Kipling and the start of Danforth Avenue.

Contents

[edit] Sites along the street

Bustling intersection of Bloor and Bay Streets in April 2006.
Bustling intersection of Bloor and Bay Streets in April 2006.

The street begins at the Prince Edward Viaduct, which passes over the ravine holding the Don River. The street continues through to Rosedale Ravine, and marks the southern border of the exclusive community of Rosedale. East of Parliament Street the street passes just to the north of the massive St. James Town housing project, which stretches west to Sherbourne St. On the northern side of Bloor in this section is the forested slopes of the Rosedale Ravine. Between Sherbourne and Church Street the street is lined by large office towers, mostly home to insurance companies. This area has long been the centre of the insurance industry in Toronto, and in Canada.

West of Church the street becomes more commercial and is an important shopping district. In downtown, especially around the intersection with Bay Street, it is one of the most exclusive stretches of real estate in Canada. Rents on the upscale Bloor Street have doubled in 4 years, ranking as the 22nd most expensive retail location in the world in 2006, up two spots from 2005. Nationally, Vancouver's upscale Robson Street tied with Bloor Street West as the most expensive street in Canada, with an annual average rental price of $208 per square foot.[1] At Yonge and Bloor, the intersection of Toronto's two most prominent streets, there are two of the city's tallest buildings: the Hudson's Bay Centre and 2 Bloor Street West. Under this intersection is the Bloor-Yonge subway station, the busiest in the city, serving approximately 368,800 people a day. At the southeast corner is a collector of inexpensive shops and resturants, known as Roy's Square.[1] As of early 2008, it is being demolished to make way for a new condo tower 1 Bloor Street East.[2]

In the downtown, Bloor Street serves also as the northern-most edge of the campus of the University of Toronto, and is host to several of Toronto's historic sites including the Bata Shoe Museum, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the southern edge of Yorkville.

West of the university, which ends at Spadina Avenue Bloor Street runs through a diverse series of neighbourhoods such as the Annex, Koreatown, High Park, and Bloor West Village. It generally retains its commercial character, and serves as the main shopping area for most of these communities.

Until 1998, Bloor Street was designated as Highway 5 from Kipling Avenue east to the Don River. Like many urban stretches of provincial roadway, it was formally decommissioned as a provincial route on January 1.

[edit] Neighbourhoods

A more residential section by High Park
A more residential section by High Park

Neighbourhoods along Bloor, from west to east with approximate street addresses, include:

[edit] Buildings/Parks

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] Shopping

The Bloor and Yonge intersection is one of the most popular and trendy shopping areas in Toronto, housing several large, well-known fashion and jewelry companies such as Gucci, Hermès,Chanel, Club Monaco, Tiffany & Co., MAC Cosmetics, Lacoste, Louis Vuitton, Swarovski, Sephora, Coach, Gap, Banana Republic, Calvin Klein Inc., Tissot, Cartier and Prada. It also has several small Canadian designers and shops popular amongst Canadians and Torontonians, such as Over the Rainbow, Town Shoes, Aritzia and Lululemon.

[edit] See also

Major streets in Toronto which intersect with Bloor (east to west):

[edit] References

  1. ^ TheStar.com - Page Not Found
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