Old artifacts keep the past alive at Vermont Avenue home By Mike Mastromatteo The house at 74 Vermont Ave. in the west Annex looks somewhat newer than its immediate neighbours. Despite its fresh and tidy frontage however, the house is one of the oldest structures on the block. It was built in the late 1880s […]

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Bird bath designer, musician, gardener, and decorator all lived here By Mike Mastromatteo It’s a sad visage greeting the traveller passing by the abandoned, crumbling house on the east side of Bathurst Street, just north of Dupont Street. The house at 1177 Bathurst St. is a grand foursquare redbrick home with a rounded arch entryway […]

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Former inhabitants include a grocer, a milliner, and a deaconess By Mike Mastromatteo On Follis Avenue, running west from Bathurst Street to Christie Street, there is a row of mostly semi-detached, two-storey dwellings.  The house at 27 Follis is the focus of this month’s “walls” story. Among the many families and boarders who have called […]

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631 and 633 Davenport Rd. hosted a hardware store, cancer care club By Mike Mastromatteo Adjoining homes on the southeast corner of Davenport and Howland—an area once known as Bracondale—have a curious history coloured by the many lives and experiences that graced the homes over the last 140 years. (But the “walls” column parameters are […]

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Many prominent families lived at 14 Madison Ave. By Michael Mastromatteo Nearly 100 years after they were first constructed, three old mansions at 14-18 Madison Ave.  gained a new lease on life. In 1983, after surviving the “rooming house malaise” of the 1960s, the houses evolved into the Madison Pub, a popular fixture in the […]

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Politics and comedy add to home’s aura By Michael Mastromatteo   This is the second in a series of columns speculating on the lived history of various houses in the Annex.  Imagine that the “walls” of these homes secretly absorb some of the actions and experiences of those living within. If we accept that the […]

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The riot at Christie Pits on Aug. 16, 1933 The September 2025 edition of the Gleaner featured a photo of a counter-protester holding a placard that read “Christie Pits Nazi-Free since ‘33.” This person was protesting against the anti-immigration rally held near the park on September 13. Not every reader will understand the significance of […]

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St. George Street home has many stories to tell By Michael Mastromatteo   This is the first in a series of columns speculating on the lived history of various houses in the Annex. Imagine that the “walls” of these homes secretly absorb some of the actions and experience of those living within. If we accept […]

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The lane name commemorates a mare named Crestfallen, a “miracle in a stable” purchased in 1913 by Dr. John G. Fitzgerald, who played a pivotal role in solving a public health crisis and developing vaccines. 

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Petra Burka, an Olympic bronze medalist, and world champion of figure skating, became known as the “Dynamo on Ice,” and she began her journey at the Toronto Curling, Skating and Cricket club. 

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Kids frolic in what was a tributary of Taddle Creek on June 17, 1916. The tributary was later dammed to create Wychwood Pond

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A large number of heritage properties are at risk of losing their status in the Bloor-Annex area and across Toronto. The pictures in this story are examples of the many “listed” but not “designated” heritage properties.

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