Abandoned Homes

JayEastsider: 16th Sep 2005 - 01:26 GMT

These houses/buildings are actually located in a prime real-estate area in downtown Toronto. There was actually more pictures but I must have deleted them.

Peter: 16th Sep 2005 - 13:40 GMT

wow, i bet those were some fine houses in their day...

jeeff: 16th Sep 2005 - 15:29 GMT

yeah it's surprising how many boarded up houses you can find in otherwise bustling parts of the city. on the bright side, i've seen a few rehabilitated since my arrival in the city.

JayEastsider: 16th Sep 2005 - 15:50 GMT

i found these houses by accident when i decided to take short cut off bloor st. e they are located at bloor e and sherbourne it was a small street but all the houses where boarded up i still wonder why?

jeeff: 16th Sep 2005 - 16:19 GMT

i used to live right by there. i think with so many low-rent high-rise apartments in the st. jamestown towers it makes it hard for landlords to get a decent price (and a decent tenant) for these old houses.

Peter: 16th Sep 2005 - 16:25 GMT

totally. those two middle houses look really cool.

jeeff: 16th Sep 2005 - 16:58 GMT

squatting doesn't have a great track record in toronto (or north america in general i think). we had the 'pope squat' but it got shut down a few years ago. (www.ocap.ca/ocapnews/pope_squat.html)

and then there's the tent city. ooh, i just found a good overview of squatting in canada: www.cbc.ca/news/background/municipalities/squatters.html

Peter: 16th Sep 2005 - 17:10 GMT

interesting! sometimes, the comment threads are as interesting as the posts... nice.

JayEastsider: 16th Sep 2005 - 17:36 GMT

i used to ride my bike right passed tent city i wish i would have snapped some pictures before home depot decided to completely level it

jeeff: 16th Sep 2005 - 19:03 GMT

whoops, i meant to link this entry which has a photo of the old tent city site.

anon (CPE000d88e334e9-CM00407b878614.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com): 20th Jun 2006 - 08:51 GMT

What are the address of these abandomed homes??

anon (bas16-toronto63-1242463903.dsl.bell.ca): 29th Nov 2006 - 02:23 GMT

where downtown toronto are these house located

anon (CPE000f66b92b6b-CM0014e8268434.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com): 18th May 2007 - 15:48 GMT

hello

i am an investor looking for vacant abandoned houses. We can give finders fee to whoever finds us one. my email is yunuskika@yahoo.com

Melody: 8th Aug 2007 - 20:17 GMT

I think it would be fun to restore these homes, they looked great I am sure in there days but would look just as fine if not better if they were to be restored.

einnor: 21st Oct 2007 - 07:41 GMT

i have a little business and i need a place for it...i want to make it as my showroom...and i am willing to give a fee to whoever find and show us one... my e-mail is ronniegg@hotmail.com

jayeastsider: 22nd Nov 2007 - 19:44 GMT

I think it is pretty cool that you all liked my photos I have been out of touch for awhile expierenced a divore with my wife and kinda fell into a rut but back on track now and I will be posting some new photos soon

Cheers
Jason

UNU: 5th Dec 2007 - 13:52 GMT

isnt there public housing around that area such as St. Jamestown, Regent Park, Moss park, and Parkdale?

electrobrains: 10th Dec 2007 - 20:56 GMT

so...no one answered why they are abandoned.
does anyone know?

Rob: 6th Mar 2008 - 12:26 GMT

I've read that developers engaged in "block-busting" in the 1950s in that area, buying as many houses as they could and then boarding them up. The idea behind this was to kill the neighbourhood and buy the rest of it for cheaper, before constructing St. Jamestown - which was designed as love-work-play community. St. Jamestown was originally going to be a larger project. So perhaps they bought more houses than they ended up needing to tear town.

jeeff: 6th Mar 2008 - 16:18 GMT

"block-busting" is a little different than what you describe, and probably not exactly what went on here. in the US, real estate agents would leave pamphlets and things in target neighbourhoods warning that minorities (blacks) were going to move in and depress the property values. the pamphlets worked as a self-fulfilling prophecy, prompting (white) residents to leave and sell their properties for cheap. then the developers would buy up the cheap properties and sell them at exorbitant prices to black families who had nowhere else to go. white flight would increase and the developers would eventually flip the whole neighbourhood. it was very much a racialized process, and it wasn't focused on preparing for high-rise development. white flight didn't happen in canada the way it did in the US.

Nick: 6th Mar 2008 - 23:32 GMT

Its too bad, because these look like great houses. I wonder who owns them and if they would be willing to sell them.

Gav: 8th Mar 2008 - 01:49 GMT

real estate is a long slow thing. those properties are being amased by some developer that might be waiting for the last piece (little old lady)to fall into place. Think 20-25 yrs out,it's not that long in the life of the city. Economics change, trends change. What they bought a couple cycles ago will seem cheap when the time comes.
I actually know such a street and the little old lady,In Toronto on George st.