Yorkville, Toronto Neighbourhood Guide: Always on Trend

Luxury brands, lavish condominiums, and upscale dining. Yorkville, Toronto, attracts millions of out-of-towners a year to its cobbled sidewalks and high-fashion specialty retailers. The birthplace of “The Mink Mile,” blends residential, office space, and shopping in with modern art and green space to create one of the city’s most desirable destinations. 

The name Joseph Bloore may sound familiar. The entrepreneur who Bloor Street was named after, along with another of Toronto’s pre-eminent builders William Botsford Jarvis, started developing the area now known as Yorkville into a residential district in the 1840s. It worked out well for them, as the community enjoyed all the spoils that accompany rapid growth. 

Yorkville was connected by an omnibus service in 1849, incorporated into a village in 1853, and became the first village to be annexed by the City of Toronto in 1883. 

The construction of the Bloor-Danforth subway line in 1966, and the approval of higher density accommodations, would send real estate values to the moon and inevitably reshape Yorkville forever. Residential was replaced with high-end retail, and the rest is history. 

The history of Yorkville can be experienced through the area’s architectural variety. Each house, highrise, and retail establishment offers visitors a little slice of the area’s storied past. 

The Victorian-style homes of the area are holdovers from the neighbourhood’s earliest days. Many of them were built between 1870 and 1895 and feature cast iron fences, expertly manicured gardens, and ornamental brickwork. A number of them are official heritage properties. 

The area features an impressive collection of modern, high-end, highrise condominiums, as well as a few of the city’s best hotels. 

Yorkville enjoys a rich cultural history that’s sustained these days by a variety of art galleries, museums, and culinary experiences. 

The 1960s were particularly fruitful. At that time, Yorkville was hailed as Toronto’s bohemian epicentre, with hippie-culture heroes like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Gordon Lightfoot all calling the area home at one time. 

Today, the neighbourhood is rich with art galleries and cultural landmarks. Yorkville is also just steps away from the Royal Ontario Museum, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and Canada’s largest and most extensive reference library, the Toronto Reference Library.

The clear-cut main attraction and undisputed champion of Canadian consumerism, shopping in Yorkville is an experience unlike any other. 

This world-class shopping district is home to some of the most sought-after brands on the planet including Burberry, Prada, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Chanel, Hermѐs, Louis Vuitton, and more. All of them are in an exceptionally walkable and condensed village-like atmosphere. 

The most famous section along Bloor Street, dubbed “The Mink Mile,” is considered the 7th most expensive street in the world.

You don’t have to walk very far to find a memorable meal when you’re in Yorkville. From Eataly to Hemingway’s, Sassafraz to The Pilot, indeed the hardest thing about Yorkville dining is picking between all of the options. 

Most of the neighbourhood’s restaurants live in its south end, though there are a few places on the northern end of Yonge Street — notably Terroni. 

There are great tastes just outside Yorkville’s borders too. The Annex is due west down Bloor Street, and Kensington Market isn’t too far south.

Though Yorkville is decidedly a luxury consumer-focused neighbourhood, it isn’t without its memorable outdoor experiences. 

The Village of Yorkville Park is one such outdoor experience. An award-winning one no less. Conceptualized for an international design competition, the park plays off of its cosmopolitan surroundings in unusual ways. Part park, part modern art exhibit, the Village of Yorkville Park features a rain curtain, an icicle fountain, distinct plant communities, and a 635-tonne chunk of granite sourced from the Canadian Shield. 

The area is also home to a few other green spaces, including Frank Stollery Parkette, Jesse Ketchum Park, and Town Hall Square.  

The Village of Yorkville Park brings much more to the neighbourhood than esthetics. The urban green space features lots of lounging space and hosts seasonal events throughout the year. 

To the north, you’ll find Ramsden Park. This park is much more traditional, with a playground for the kids, an artificial ice rink in the winter, and four tennis courts. 

There really is no end to the fun that’s ready to be had in Yorkville and the surrounding area. George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the 12-screen Cineplex Cinemas Varsity & VIP are all perfect places to while away your downtime.

Like many of the other long-established Toronto neighbourhoods, Yorkville is well connected to the rest of the city and the Greater Toronto Area at large. 

The neighbourhood is unquestionably walkable, with in-town access to the Bloor-Yonge subway station on the Yonge-University-Spadina line, and Bay Station on the Bloor-Danforth subway line. 

Motorists find it easy to get in and out of the city too. A 20-minute drive eastward on Bloor Street delivers them to the Don Valley Parkway. 

Yorkville, Toronto, is full of what dreams are made of. High fashion, luxury accommodations, and ritzy restaurants. One of the oldest neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto, Yorkville has long been ground zero for the latest trends in the city’s arts, culinary, and fashion subcultures. It costs money to look good, and Yorkville always looks good.