Part 1 of this year’s Grading our Greenspace

This is the first instalment of our annual look at neighbourhood greenspaces. Each year, the Annex Gleaner visits and evaluates the parks and parkettes across our coverage area using a range of criteria. While there is no single overall winner, letter grades are assigned to reflect the quality of each space based on factors such as upkeep, design, amenities, accessibility, and overall atmosphere. 

Previous grades are included for comparison, while the accompanying reviews highlight the unique features and character that make each park distinct.

Compiled and photos by Shaya Rahmani

Bickford Park

Address: 468 Grace St. 
Time of Visit: 10:36 a.m. 
Grade: A (Last Year’s Grade: A)
Reason to go: Bickford Park is a spacious and welcoming greenspace tucked into the neighbourhood  of Christie Pits. The park’s rolling hills and wide-open layout create a relaxed atmosphere that feels a bit removed from the surrounding city streets. One of its biggest draws is its appeal for dog owners. There is a fenced-in dog area for pets looking for a more contained space, while a large field also provides plenty of room for off-leash dogs to run around and burn off energy. During the visit, the park felt lively without being overwhelming, with neighbours gathering and chatting as dogs raced through the grass. The park is also well-maintained when it comes to its plant life and shrubbery, giving the area a cared-for and inviting appearance. While the baseball diamond shows some signs of age and could benefit from more attention, it does little to detract from the park’s overall atmosphere. Nearby community resources such as The Bickford Centre and Bob Abate Community Recreation Centre further add to the neighbourhood feel of the area. Whether you are looking for a place to walk your dog, throw a ball around, or simply enjoy some time outdoors, Bickford Park offers plenty of room for activities while maintaining a calm and welcoming character. 
Overheard: Dog owners discussing their pets while neighbours chat nearby and dogs barking excitedly as they run through the off-leash areas.
Did you know: A hidden waterway runs beneath the area. The historic Garrison Creek system, one of Toronto’s oldest buried waterways, passes under Bickford Park and nearby areas.

Christie Pits Park

Address: 750 Bloor St. W.
Time of Visit: 11:13 a.m. 
Grade: A (Last Year’s Grade: A)
Reason to go: There are still some larger, more active greenspaces in the Annex, such as Christie Pits Park, which offer a range of attractions for people of all ages. In Christie Pits there is a huge children’s playground, open grassy spaces that are perfect for recreational activities, and plenty of picnic tables and benches throughout the grounds. What sets it apart from many other local parks is its vastness which means it can accommodate several activities at the same time without feeling crowded. Whether visitors are seeking a location to exercise, socialize, or just spend time outdoors, Christie Pits accommodates a wide range of activities. The park has a huge baseball field and soccer facilities, plus a skate park that regularly attracts skateboarders and scooter riders performing stunts and testing new skills. The mature trees in the park offer shaded spaces that are a respite on warmer days, while the varying tree cover adds visual character and lends individual sections of the park their unique feel. The only visible problem on our visit was the amount of litter and plastic rubbish strewn around in parts of the open space. Nevertheless, Christie Pits is a vibrant and adaptable park with a little bit of everything for almost everyone. 
Overheard: Sounds of skateboard wheels grinding against rails and riders practicing tricks. 
Did you know: Before becoming a public park, Christie Pits was once a series of sand and gravel quarries that supplied material used to build some of Toronto’s early roads and buildings.

Euclid Avenue Parkette

Address: 711 Euclid Ave.
Time of Visit: 11: 55 a.m. 
Grade: F (Last Year’s Grade: F)
Reason to go: Euclid Avenue Parkette is a small parcel of greenspace that works more as a transition strip than as a destination in its own right. The parkette is located on a residential street and is significantly affected by the noise of the adjacent households. This makes it difficult for the area to serve as a place of rest or reflection. The physical layout is sparse, with only the basics, such as a few seats and garbage cans, neither of which adequately offset the absence of mindful design or functional space. The parkette also has litter and an overall air of neglect. There is no shade or substantial greenery. It’s not a place that invites you to linger, but instead to hurry through. Overall, Euclid Avenue Parkette is not very useful as a public greenspace and resembles a converted alley more than a park.
Overheard: Air conditioning and ventilation units doing their best attempt at a symphony.
Did you know: The street name Euclid appears in many North American cities and references the ancient Greek mathematician whose work influenced surveying and mapping systems which  helped shape early urban street grids.

Healey Willan Park

Address: 504 Euclid Ave.
Time of Visit: 12: 42 p.m. 
Grade: A (Last Year’s Grade: A)
Reason to go: Healey Willan Park is a small, residential greenspace designed primarily for families and young children in the surrounding neighbourhood. The park features a playground and sandbox and it has a lived-in, community feel, often marked by scattered toys that suggest frequent and ongoing use rather than occasional visits. The open grassy areas are unstructured and filled with dandelions, adding a simple, natural character to the park’s otherwise minimal design. While it is not a large or heavily programmed greenspace, its appeal lies in its accessibility and ease of use. The atmosphere is calm and domestic, shaped by the surrounding homes and the steady presence of families.
Overheard: Children calling out while playing in the playground against the steady background sound of birds chirping from the nearby trees.
Did you know: Famous Canadian writer Robertson Davies once joked that one of the only things worth doing in Toronto was listening to the choir led by Healey Willan at St. Mary Magdalene.

Vermont Square Park

Address: 819 Palmerston Ave.
Time of Visit: 1:30 p.m. 
Grade: A- (Last Year’s Grade: A)
Reason to go: Vermont Square Park is a highly functioning, well-organized neighbourhood greenspace that acts as the principal recreational hub for the West Annex community. Even though it is small, the park is always busy and anchored by a large playground. The play structures are enclosed, contributing to a sense of safety. The adjacent open lawns offer additional space for unstructured play and include bocce courts and flexible-use zones. A key feature of the park is its mature tree canopy that offers considerable shade and helps create a noticeably comfortable microclimate during warmer months. Benches and picnic tables are arranged in a basic yet efficient pattern throughout the space. The middle field also seems to have a circular fenced-in part which might be for programming or for an enclosed off-leash dog area, demonstrating a flexible response to community needs. The park is small, but its design clearly favors accessibility, safety, and use by different generations.
Overheard: Children calling out from the playground while caregivers converse from shaded benches.
Did you know: The park is surrounded by a mix of Victorian and early Edwardian homes, many of which reflect the Annex’s distinctive architectural style that emerged during Toronto’s rapid growth between the 1880s and 1910s.

Jean Sibelius Square 

Address: 50 Kendal Ave.
Time of Visit: 2:20 p.m. 
Grade: A+ (Last Year’s Grade: A+)
Reason to go: Jean Sibelius Square is one of the Annex’s most fully realized and stand out greenspaces, balancing recreation infrastructure, passive green areas and community activities. The park is situated between Kendal and Brunswick avenues with Wells Street to the south and Bernard Avenue to the north. The park’s courtyard-like design provides a cushion from the neighborhood’s ambient street sounds, while being extremely accessible. The idea is that it can be used by a large number of people at one time, from families with small children to fitness-conscious park-goers. A hallmark of the park is its comprehensive recreational activities. The outdoor fitness area is a busy place throughout the day with many stations and pull-up bars.  Next to it is a big playground with rope climbing structures, rock-climbing walls, and elevated play pieces to promote more physically active play. The proximity of bicycle rental stations improves accessibility and encourages longer stays in the surrounding green network. Mature trees produce a split canopy effect, with parts of the park in deep shadow and other areas open and sunny. At its cultural heart is a statue of Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer and the park’s namesake. 
Overheard: A father laying out strict rules for an enthusiastic group of children playing hide-and-seek tag and the nearby grunting of a man completing pull-ups on the outdoor fitness equipment.
Did you know: The park contains a memorial to Jean Sibelius that was presented to the City of Toronto by Finnish Canadians in 1959.

St Alban’s Square

Address: 90 Howland Ave.
Time of Visit: 3:10 p.m. 
Grade: A- (Last Year’s Grade: A)
Reason to go: St. Alban’s Square is a modest and softly charming greenspace that offers a moment of tranquility amid the bustling rhythm of the Annex. The most visually striking aspect of the park is the symmetrical arrangement of trees on either side of the main path which directs movement through the area and strengthens the formal, even processional quality of the layout. The vibe of the park is decidedly low-key, driven less by scheduled activity and more by passive use. Seating is evenly spread around the park with benches situated to take advantage of both shade and sightlines along the walks. Mature trees provide a steady overhead canopy, affording relief during warmer months and adding to the park’s general sense of comfort. St. Alban’s Square has limited amenities but is carefully maintained. It is less a destination park and more of  a place to relax for a moment, to pass through gently, or to step away from the surrounding noise of the city without quite leaving it behind.
Overheard: Birds chirping overhead in the tree canopy and the occasional footsteps of residents moving along the tree-lined path
Did you know: Like many Toronto parks, St. Alban’s Square is maintained by the city’s parks, forestry and recreation division and is designed for passive recreation, such as walking, sitting, and short stops rather than organized sports or programming.

Robert Street Park

Address: 60 Sussex Ave.
Time of Visit: 4:00 p.m. 
Grade: B (Last Year’s Grade: A)
Reason to go: Robert Street Park is close to the Spadina and Bloor intersection and provides a brief pocket of peace in an otherwise highly urbanized area. The park has few amenities, and the focus is the rope climbing towers and open space for play. There are almost equal parts grass and hardscaped materials on the surface of the park. Much of the area is covered in cement and plastic safety flooring. This adds to a more formal, almost institutional aspect, but also guarantees durability and year-round usability. The park has good sightlines which include the CN Tower and colourful murals provide contrast to the otherwise pragmatic design of the playground. In general, Robert Street Park is more of a short, activity-oriented interlude for youngsters than an extensive recreational attraction.
Overheard: A teacher instructing a group of children to line up near the playground equipment, accompanied by the steady sounds of kids climbing off the structures.
Did you know: The park was designed with a strong emphasis on accessibility and barrier-free play structures, including rope-based climbing elements and open circulation paths intended to support a wide range of physical activity. 

Matt Cohen Park

Address: 393 Bloor Street W.
Time of Visit: 10: 25 a.m. 
Grade: C (Last Year’s Grade: C-)
Reason to go: Matt Cohen Park is a small greenspace located at the corner of Bloor Street West and Spadina Avenue. It is a transitional civic space rather than a regular park, and it is located at one of the busiest corridors in the city. There is little soft landscaping in the park, but there is a clear feeling of purpose due to the incorporation of cultural and informational components such as stone chess tables and interpretative signage outlining aspects of local history and the surrounding neighbourhood environment. The physical configuration of the park is dictated by its location so there is not a lot of grass and more of an emphasis on hardscaped surfaces. Because it is so close to the University of Toronto and community institutions, there is a constant flow of people passing through, making it more of a pass-through park than a destination park.
Overheard: The cooing of pigeons moving across the hard surfaces of the park, interspersed with the steady hum of traffic.
Did you know: Matt Cohen called his longtime Spadina neighbourhood home “the centre of the universe.” 

Huron-Washington Parkette

Address: 406 Huron St.
Time of Visit: 11:10 a.m. 
Grade: B- (Last Year’s Grade: B)
Reason to go: Huron–Washington Parkette is a modest, transitional greenspace located adjacent to the University of Toronto. It functions primarily as an informal pause point within an  academic and pedestrian-heavy environment. Despite its limited size and minimal amenities, the parkette plays a noticeable role in the daily flow of students and faculty moving between campus buildings and surrounding streets. The space consists largely of an open grassy area punctuated by a small number of mature trees. It is frequently used as an outdoor extension of campus activity, with classes occasionally gathering in the space for brief discussions or informal instruction. However, the condition of the site presents some challenges. Litter is visible throughout portions of the grass which detracts from its overall appearance and suggests inconsistent upkeep. 
Overheard: A professor teaching an education studies class in the parkette.
Did you know: The name Huron Street is widely believed to reference the Huron (Wendat) people, a Haudenosaunee-speaking Indigenous nation historically located in what is now southern Ontario.

READ MORE:

• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: How do our parks rate? (Sept. 2025)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: How do our parks measure up? (Aug. 2025)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Grading the green (July 2025)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Annex parks’ report card (Dec. 2024)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Annex parks report card (Oct./Nov. 2024)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: A report card on our parks – part 2(Sept. 2024)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: A report card on our parks (Summer 2024)
• FOCUS: Grading our greenspace (Feb. 2024)
• FOCUS: Grading our Greenspace (Dec. 2023)
• FOCUS: Grading our greenspace (Fall 2023)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Third and final instalment (Oct. 2022)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Appraising Annex parks (Sept. 2022)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE (Aug. 2022)
• NEWS: New mural celebrates Indigenous storytelling (July 2022)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE (Fall 2021)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE (July 2021)
• LIFE: Bickford Park embraces yoga (June 2021)
• FOCUS: New park imbued with nostalgia (Apr. 2021)
• ON THE COVER: Renewing Martel’s vision (Nov. 2020)
• FOCUS: Park set for eco-restoration (Nov. 2020)
• GRADING OUR GREENSPACE: Grading the green (Aug. 2020)
• FORUM: Making it green (Aug. 2020)
• OBITUARY: Architect leaves indelibe marks (July 2020)
• CHATTER: Sally’s Fright finds a home in Yorkville (July 2020)
• FOCUS: Robert Street Field site of geothermal energy (Mar. 2020)