Hitting The Streets Of Cabbagetown

There is a neighbourhood in Old Toronto called Cabbagetown.  Once one of the poorest areas of the city, it is now a highly popular and desired location.

It is reported to have the largest number of preserved Victorian homes anywhere in North America.  This is quite remarkable considering how many of them were destroyed in the 1950s – primarily in the southern part of neighbourhood – to make way for a new housing development.

It is believed that the label *Cabbagetown* originated in the mid-1800s when there was a large influx of impoverished Irish immigrants into the area.  Several families often lived in one house and the front yards were used to grow vegetables – primarily cabbages.

Click on any image to enlarge.

It’s not surprising therefore, that this neighbourhood would be a rich source of heritage buildings.

For today’s Thursday Doors, I’m featuring 3 of these heritage buildings. Each is a semi-detached of similar style, circa 1880.  In each one I love the 3 storey construction, side-by-side front doors, decorative glass panels, and window transom.

I especially like this 3rd one with the detailing on the 2nd storey windows.

When I first arrived in Toronto in the late 1970s, Cabbagetown was not a desirable address. Although gentrification had started, it was still a very gritty and rundown neighbourhood. Fast forward 3 decades later and this section of northern Cabbagetown was anything but rundown.

Each one of these lovingly restored homes would be worth well north of $1,000,000.

There was one door however that I found during my travels in Cabbagetown that clearly did not fit the mold of the others … but it was still a door belonging to one of the heritage buildings in my search.

Chamberlain Terrace is a series of row homes built in 1876 with apartments on the upper floors and retail underneath.  One of those retail outlets was a hardware store that caught my attention with its hanging metal tubs and a row of ladders in increasing size.

I loved everything about this scene from the small overhang over the doorway to the little second floor balcony shaded by a tree.

I was completely charmed by this excursion into Cabbagetown and I have to give Jude a special nod since it was her request that I venture into this area.  Jude is a serial blogger and can be found at Travel Words, The Earth Laughs In Flowers, and Under a Cornish Sky. It seemed appropriate to me that I would make this excursion on her birthday and I’m certain I will be back to visit more of this lovely neighbourhood.

Thursday Doors is a weekly photo feature hosted by Norm Frampton at Norm 2.0.  If you like doors, I encourage you to visit his site and follow the little blue frog to experience all kinds of doors from the elegantly simple to the simply amazing.