Lanes of the West Annex

The mural at the back of Sonic Boom, 512 Bloor Street West

Torontonians have a love affair with back lanes. Free of the corporatization of streets and the monoculture of chain stores, lanes are the ancient rain forests of the urban landscape. Peaceful and deeply idiosyncratic, they are our refuge from the tyranny of the shiny and new.

Unlike surrounding neighbourhoods, the West Annex has few lanes. In the late 1800s when Joseph Wells' sons collaborated to develop a subdivision on the farmlands

they inherited from their father,

lanes were not included in the plans.

The horse-drawn street cars already serving Seaton Village would meet some of the new neighbourhood's transportation needs.

And with 200 or so stables and liveries located in the nearby Village of Yorkville,

private ownership of horses an

d carriages was deemed unnecessary, and laneways running behind homes to accommodate them were dispensed with.

Seaton Village street car, 1890

Photo credit: City of Toronto Archives, Series 71, item 3363

But although you won't find them on Google Maps or your GPS, lanes did later evolve. Let's explore.

Laneway 1: behind the Bloor Street retail strip

The longest and best-known lane of the West Annex begins at Bathurst Street, just south of the Bathurst Street subway station. Turn and walk east, just behind the shops on the north side of the Bloor Street retail strip.

Entrance to the lane, just south of the Bathurst Subway station

The first block from Bathurst to Albany is dominated by the large mural on the back of Sonic Boom, featuring Bob Marley, David Bowie, Prince, Dizzy Gillespie and de rigueur lane graffiti. Just before reaching Albany, pass the small parkette immediately adjacent to the lane, a nice place to eat your take-out from Ghazale or to meet up before a show at the Bloor Cinema.

After crossing Albany, continue east. You'll pass the Autoshare parking lot to your right before reaching Howland Avenue, named after Canada's only American-born Father of Confederation William Pearce Howland. His son William Holmes Howland, Toronto's first Reform mayor, coined the slogan "Toronto the Good" during his successful bid for mayor in 1884.

At Howland, take a moment to admire both 15 and 16 Howland, fine examples of enlightened Crombie-era social housing, built on top of the Bloor subway right of way in the 1970's. Without resorting to ersatz-Victorian gee-gaws, the architect successfully complemented the late 19th century brick Victorian homes of this heritage neighbourhood with these relatively low-cost modern building.

15 Howland, fine Crombie-era social housing

Continue east down the driveway just to the north of of 15 Howland. Go to the back right (south east) corner of the property. Open the chain-link gate, go through, and continue east on the sidewalk to Brunswick Avenue.

Go through the gate at the back of 15 Howland

After crossing Brunswick, enter little Jospeh Burr Tyrell [sic] Park. Continue east through the park. On the north side just before you reach Dalton Road, there's a historic plaque commemorating Tyrrell, whose interesting life straddled the 19th and 20th centuries and included stints as a paleontologist, mining baron, and apple hybridizer. This discoverer of the Albertosaurus and developer of the Golden Delicious apple lived for some time on nearby Walmer Avenue.

And there the first West Annex lane tour ends.

Joseph Burr Tyrell Park at Dalton Road, the end of the tour

Except as otherwise noted, all photos Louise Morin.