Bathurst Manor

Bathurst Manor
Neighbourhood
Bathurst Manor

Location in Ontario

Coordinates: 43°45′46″N 79°27′25″W / 43.76278°N 79.45694°W / 43.76278; -79.45694Coordinates: 43°45′46″N 79°27′25″W / 43.76278°N 79.45694°W / 43.76278; -79.45694
Country  Canada
Province  Ontario
City Toronto Toronto
Community North York
Government
 • Toronto City Council James Pasternak (Ward 10 York Centre)
 • MPs Michael Levitt
 • MPPs Monte Kwinter
Population (2006)
 • Total 14,945
Time zone EST (UTC−5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC−4)
Postal code M3H
Area code(s) 416, 647

Bathurst Manor is a neighbourhood located in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It sits on a plateau bounded on the north by Finch Avenue West, on the west by Dufferin Street, on the east by the Don River (west branch), and on the south by Sheppard Avenue West. The area is also regarded as part of the Downsview postal area as designated by Canada Post. It is part of the former City of North York, which merged with five other municipalities and a regional government to form the new "City of Toronto" in 1998. It is part of federal and provincial electoral district York Centre, and Toronto electoral ward 10: York Centre (East). In 2006, it had a population of 14,615.[1]

Community

Bathurst Manor is one of several heavily Jewish-populated neighbourhoods on Bathurst Street. It is a suburban community of Ranch-style house, bungalows, side-split single-family homes and multi-family triplexes built between 1954 and the early 1960s. While most of the population was originally Jewish, and several synagogue congregations are located in the neighbourhood, there are also significant Italian, Russian and Filipino populations.

The community is home to the Canadian headquarters of B'nai Brith at 15 Hove St, the Bathurst Jewish Community Centre (BJCC), the Lipa Green Building at 4588 Bathurst St is for Jewish Community Services. The Royal Canadian Legion Branch Wilson 527 at 948 Sheppard Ave. W. Also the constituency offices of former M.P. Ken Dryden at 1030 Sheppard Ave. W, Unit 3A and M.P.P. Monte Kwinter at 539 Wilson Heights Blvd. The former being a member of the Liberal Party of Canada and the latter being a member of the Ontario Liberal Party.

In 1996, the Toronto Transit Commission extended subway service to the area with the opening of the Downsview Station, at Allen Road and Sheppard Avenue, allowing a thirty-minute train ride to Union Station at the southern cusp of downtown Toronto.

Demographics

Bathurst Manor’s Top ten ethnic and cultural groups (by ancestry) in 2006 :[1]

The percentage of population below the poverty line dropped from 22% (in 1996) to 18% (in 2001).[1]

Recreation

The Irving W. Chapley Community Centre (dedicated in memory of the long serving City of North York and Metropolitan Toronto Alderman) is located in Wilmington Park at 205 Wilmington Ave. This community centre features a tot's play area, meeting rooms and an outdoor pool and water play area. Wilmington Park, located next to the community centre features swimming pool, ice rink, tennis, basketball courts and a baseball diamond.

The Bathurst Jewish Community Centre BJCC is a multi purpose facility with cardiovascular conditioning equipment, indoor and outdoor pools, indoor and outdoor track, and tennis and basketball courts. This centre is also the home of the Leah Posluns Theatre and the Koffler Gallery.

Skiing was popular during the 1950s at a ski hill located adjacent to what is now Blue Forest Drive. In the summer of 1956, the valley below the ski hill was the site of Bathurst Manor Day Camp, later Forest Valley Day Camp, and now a part of the Forest Valley Outdoor Education Centre. At its peak, it was the largest privately owned summer day camp in Canada, with over 900 campers, and operated through 1993. In 1973 the grade ten students from Downsview Secondary School built a suspension bridge across the ravine as part of their workshop experience. The bridge was dismantled some years later when it was considered an insurance liability. Beginning in 1998, Camp NAORCA summer camp operated by Toronto Parks and Recreation moved here from its previous location at Seneca College, King Campus, and the Toronto District School Board uses this space during the school year to educate 21,000 students per year.

Other Parks

Shopping Plazas

The major strip mall, Sheppard Plaza, is located at the intersection of Sheppard Avenue and Bathurst Street, and includes a Shoppers Drug Mart, TD Canada Trust, Bank of Montreal, Scotiabank, Metro supermarket. The store was formerly a Dominion, and before that a Miracle Food Mart, and originally a Steinberg's. Before that, it was a Grand Union.

There was also a smaller Bathurst Manor Plaza shopping centre at the intersection of Wilmington and Overbrook. It had been in decline since the early 1990s since the closure of its anchor Sunnybrook produce store. It also featured a King David kosher pizzeria and The Bagel Nook coffee shop. These two stores shared a building that previously housed a Pioneer gas station, originally a Shell station, which closed in the late 1990s. The plaza formally closed on July 31, 2016, and is slated for eventual redevelopment, with no given timeframe.

Dining

Nearby; St. Louis Bar and Grill, Mr Greek Mediterranean Grill, Mandarin Restaurant, Boston Pizza, McDonald's and Tim Hortons.

Arts

The Koffler Centre of the Arts located at the BJCC houses the Koffler Gallery, visual arts studios, music and dance schools, and the Leah Posluns Theatre which is a 444-seat facility offering opera, theatre, dance, music and other cultural events. The Jewish Book Fair is held at the Centre annually.

Much of David Bezmozgis's 2004 short story collection Natasha and Other Stories takes place in the general vicinity of the Bathurst Manor in the late 1980s. In one story, "Roman Berman - Massage Therapist", the title character takes an office in the medical building at Bathurst Manor Plaza, which is still standing and in use. Bezmozgis's narrator refers to the plaza as "Sunnybrook Plaza", after its anchor store at the time.

Author Stuart Ross, who grew up in Bathurst Manor, set most of his 2011 novel, Snowball, Dragonfly, Jew (ECW Press), in Bathurst Manor. The book centres on the fictional assassination of a neo-Nazi in Bathurst Manor Plaza. References are made to many streets in Bathurst Manor, as well as stores in the plaza.

Schools

There are three Toronto District School Board public schools and one private school:

  1. Wilmington Elementary School, originally called Cedar Grove Public School, and later, Charles H. Best - West
  2. Charles H Best Middle School, named after Charles Herbert Best, originally Dufferin Heights Junior High School.
  3. William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, a high school named after Toronto's first mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie
  4. The Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, Tanenbaum Campus, a private Jewish high school, on the former site of the Wilmington Public School.

Public safety

Bathurst Manor is located within 32 Division of the Toronto Police Service and is most often serviced by Station 143 of the Toronto Fire Services.

Notable people

References

  1. 1 2 3 City of Toronto Demographics for Bathurst Manor
Adjacent places of Bathurst Manor
 Concord, Ontario
Westminster-Branson
York University Heights Westminster-Branson
Willowdale
   Bathurst Manor  
Clanton Park
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