The following West Bend walking tour was designed in 2006 by Duncan Farnan a long time area resident. The tour outlines a short walk around the neighbourhood and provides a guide to a few of the notable sites, buildings and historical points of interest in The West Bend. The walking tour begins at Baird Park, located at the corner of Humberside Avenue and Keele Street.
- Keele Street & The Junction
- Indian Road Crescent to Bloor Street
- Indian Road, Wanda & Abbott Avenues
- Jerome Street, Dundas St. West & Humberside Avenue
I – KEELE STREET & THE JUNCTION | |
Start at Baird Park | |
Lawn Bowling Clubhouse | Keele Street and Humberside Blvd., 1912 |
William Baird House | 261-263 Keele Street, 1896 |
Just down from the Keele Street, Dundas Street West heart of the Junction, Baird Park is named after the last Mayor of West Toronto Junction, William Baird, whose home stands just south at 263 Keele Street. In its early days, a horse drawn band wagon (yes, the real thing) played in the park, but other than the grand pillared Lawn Bowling Club and its immaculate greens, there’s not much to see or listen to now. Its Edwardian and late Victorian high point is pretty faded from view. Immediately west across Keele is the site of the Carleton Race Course (1857-1876). It was between Annette, Glenlake, Keele and Aziel. The first running of the Queen’s Plate was held there on June 27, 1860. It was subdivided into building lots in 1883. Some of the houses on High Park Blvd were built so as to take advantage of a view of the racetrack.Just south on Indian Grove, one of the last brick paved laneways existed. West Toronto was known for its brick factories due to the quality of the local clays. That lane disappeared with reconstruction in winter 2005/06. | |
The Junction and Dundas Street West | |
Places of interest as you go north on Keele Street include the | |
The Disciples Church | 97 Annette (1890 – 1997), built by architect James Ellis |
Mechanics Hall | 319 Keele Street, 1923 |
Lakeview Lodge | |
This was originally one of the few African-Canadian working mans Mechanics Institutes in the City. It is still in use today. Black Canadians were segregated in terms of large aspects of community life. Modeled somewhat along the line of an educational institute and a Masonic Temple, these institutes were common across English speaking countries providing opportunities for the working man to read and study. The CPR used to actively recruit in the West Indies for porters as did the Grand Truck in the United States for cooks and waiters. | |
Salvation Army | 343 Keele Street, 1953 |
This is a 1950’s styled building but without the Army which held a presence on this site going back to 1912 or earlier. The Army closed its operation here in the Fall of 2006, but the building still continues as a place of worship. | |
Bank of Toronto | 2854 Dundas Street, built by architectural firm of Eustace Bird and Carrere and Hastings, 1911 |
At the centre of the Junction and one of the anchors to this corner the building is amazing well maintained with a sweeping front interior stairwell that’s worth an inside look. This 1911 financial head quarters is designated as a heritage property. A great many of the large Dundas Street mercantile buildings on either side of Keele Street are either designated or listed in Heritage Toronto’s inventory. | |
East and North onto Heintzman | |
Riwoche Temple | 28 Heintzman Avenue (Van Horne St), 1996 |
Said to have been a show room for the Heintzman Piano Company in the 1890’s, it later became a Polish Veterans Hall after WWII. For the last ten years it has functioned as a Tibetan Buddhist Temple. Its interior is a full replica of the Riwoche sect’s original Temple in Lhasa (destroyed 1950s). | |
Heintzman Piano Factory Site | 1888 – c. 1960 |
This quadrant north of Dundas was a manufacturing site of the famous Heintzman & Co. who produced upright and grand pianos. Production moved here from Queen Street in 1888 as the business grew. The company and its pianos have a really interesting history in North America that’s worth looking up. Just as a piece of social history it produced 3,000 pianos in 1920 at its peak and 200 in 1934. It’s still in business up in Hanover, Ontario. | |
South on Heintzman and East onto Dundas | |
Peacock Hotel | 2760-2762 Dundas Street West, 1889 |
In one form or another, a Peacock Hotel has existed on Dundas since 1837. Today’s version is an apartment hotel a bit down on its luck. Dundas Street is an old street in the province and carried right out into western Ontario. Before the railroads came, you left TO (or some mid 19th c. version) by horse or stagecoach or foot stopping at inns such as the Peacock, next Lambton Tavern (bottom of Scarlet Road), next Montgomery’s Inn (just before Islington). |