Banbury-Don Mills Real Estate Toronto

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Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Toronto
Community	North York
Changed Municipality	1922 North York from York 1998 Toronto from North York
Government
- MP	John Carmichael (Don Valley West)
- MPP	Kathleen Wynne (Don Valley West)
- Councillor	Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34 Don Valley West)

Don Mills is a mixed-use neighbourhood in the North York district of Toronto, Canada. It was developed to be a self-supporting "new town" and was at the time located outside of Toronto proper. Consisting of residential, commercial and industrial sub-districts, it was planned and developed by private enterprise. In several ways it became the blueprint for post-war suburban development in Toronto and contemporary residential neighbourhoods. It is bounded by York Mills Road to the north, Eglinton Avenue to the south, Leslie Street to the west, and the Don Valley Parkway to the east. It is part of federal and provincial electoral district Don Valley West, and Toronto electoral wards 25: Don Valley West (North) and 26: Don Valley West (South).

Early history

The Don Mills area was first settled by Europeans in 1817. The area was a considerable distance from the town of York, but the Don River provided an easy means of transportation, and also a source of power for a number of mills along its length. While the city of Toronto steadily expanded, the Don Mills area remained rural until after the Second World War. It was cut off from the city by ravines to the south, east, and west. Only two roads connected to the area: York Mills Road and Don Mills Road. In 1950 the area consisted of about 20 farms.

Don Mills project

Don Mills was designed as a model community between 1952 and 1965. Land use, architectural design and building materials were carefully regulated. Many aspects of its design have been imitated in suburban developments across Canada. Its planners would give people priority over industry and cars.

This combination of emptiness and proximity to the city attracted the attention of industrialist E.P. Taylor. His original plan was to erect a brewery on the site, along with a small community to house the workers. Taylor had limited previous experience in the property development business, but had built a project named the Wrentham Estates in York Mills. Seeing the profit to be made with such projects, Taylor abandoned the brewery idea and decided to simply build a new town on the 2,000 acres (8.1 km²) he had acquired.

In 1951 he began planning the Yorktown community (as it was first known), and it was announced on March 11, 1953.The community was to be built on about 8.35 square kilometres (2,100 acres) of farmland centred at the intersection of Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East, with an expected cost of $200 million. Development was headed by the Taylor-owned Don Mills Development Company, (known as O'Keefe Realty in the days of the brewery development).

Design principles

The design of Don Mills was influenced by Ebenezer Howard's Garden City, and by the principles of two American town planners, Clarence Stein and Henry Wright, who developed the garden city community of Radburn, New Jersey. Design of the project was entrusted to Macklin Hancock, the son-in-law of Taylor's executive assistant. Still in his mid-20s, Hancock was a graduate student at Harvard when approached for the job. At Harvard Hancock had studied under a number of the founders of modernism and new town planning including Walter Gropius, William Holford, and Hideo Sasaki. These studies lead Hancock to envision a self-contained community distinguished by consistent design principles and a modernist style. Several names were proposed for the new development, including Eptown after Taylor. It was called Yorktown at its initial unveiling, but the name Don Mills was finally adopted at the suggestion of Hancock.

The design was based on five planning principles, which had not been implemented in Canada before:

1. The neighbourhood principle – which broke down the community into four neighbourhood quadrants, all surrounding a regional shopping centre, Don Mills Centre, at the southwest corner of Don Mills and Lawrence. Each quadrant was to contain a school, a church, and a park.
2. Separation of pedestrian and vehicle traffic – which was accomplished through the creation of a network of pedestrian paths providing easy access through parks to area schools and the town centre, while roads were designed to slow vehicular traffic through the use of winding roads, T-intersections, and cul-de-sacs.
3. Promotion of modernist architecture and the modern aesthetic – Don Mills Development controlled the architectural design, colours, and materials of all buildings in Don Mills. As well, the corporation insisted that builders use company-approved architects who had been educated according to Bauhaus principles, to prevent the project from deteriorating into a typical post-war subdivision of builder's homes.
4. Creation of a greenbelt – linked to a system of neighbourhood parks that would preserve the beauty of the surrounding ravines.
5. Integration of industry into the community – which followed Howard's ideals for the Garden City. Planners felt that it was important for residents to live and work in the same satellite town so that Don Mills would not become a bedroom community. A sizable number of high residential densities—rental townhouses and low-rise apartments—was essential if the town were to attract a cross-section of residents working in local industries.

Home situation design was also influential to subsequent subdivisions in Canada. The homes were located on square lots with long street frontages. Houses were previously situated on rectangular lots, narrow end to the street. The square lots meant that houses faced the street with their long side, but has less deep backyards.

The developers also affected two highway projects being developed concurrently. The 'Toronto Bypass', now known as Ontario Highway 401 does not have an interchange at Don Mills Road due to the development. The Don Valley Parkway, built in part to service the community, was originally to be built on Don Mills Road, but was moved east to the Woodbine Avenue right-of-way north of Lawrence.

Landmarks

The local high school is the Don Mills Collegiate Institute, which opened in 1959. In 2003, the parkette at the corner of Don Mills and Lawrence was renamed the Macklin Hancock Parkette. An area elementary public school is Norman Ingram Memorial School, located on Duncairn Rd.

The main shopping centre is the Shops at Don Mills, a large mall located at the southwest corner of Lawrence Avenue and Don Mills Road on the site of the former Don Mills Centre. There is also a strip mall southwest of Don Mills and Barber Greene Road, and a Loblaw Real Canadian Superstore northeast of Don Mills and Eglinton.

Parks includes Bond Park which has sports fields and an arena, and Moccasin Trail Park where a remote, undeveloped section of ravine can be reached by a pedestrian tunnel under the Don Valley Parkway.

At Wynford Drive and the Don Valley Parkway, a new $300 million cultural project is being constructed on 6.8 hectares (17 acres). The Ismaili Centre, the Aga Khan Museum and a public park,will provide an exhibition space for Islamic art and history and will provide a centre for the Ismaili community in Canada. The project, whose foundation was laid on May 28, 2010 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and His Highness the Aga Khan, is designed by award-winning architects: India-based Charles Correa, Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, Lebanese landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic and the Toronto-based Moriyama & Teshima Architects.

Demographics

The city places Don Mills in a community called Banbury-Don Mills. In 2006, it had a population of 25,435.

Major ethnic and cultural groups (by ancestry) in 2001:

• Chinese - 12%
• English - 11%
• Canadian - 11%
• Jewish - 7%
• Scottish - 7%
• Irish - 5%
• East Indian - 4%
• German - 3%
• French - 2%
• Polish - 2%
• Other - 36%

The percentage of population below the poverty line dropped from 13% (in 1996) to 12% (in 2001).

Real Estate in Banbury-Don mills

Average sale price for detached house in June 2011:  $761,910
Property crime: average
Crime against people:very low

Don Mills feels as comfortable and safe as a favourite cardigan. To stroll its winding streets, still replete with post-war housing of the ’50s and ’60s, is to enter a time warp. The modernist architectural flourishes of the day still dominate: steeply peaked roofs, multi-dimensional façades, sleek carports. Unlike the suburbs that came after it, the neighbourhood features an immense variety of housing styles and, perhaps more importantly, the acknowledgement of the natural landscape in home construction—mature trees abound; glimpses of the surrounding ravines are common. In the north, some of Banbury’s luxury homes seem part and parcel of the scenery. The majority of the area remains pedestrian and bike friendly, and the troubled Sheppard subway line, opened in 2002, provided long-needed (if still underutilized) TTC access. The Don Mills Shopping Centre, which has long been a kind of town square, reopened in April 2009 as the upscale Shops at Don Mills. An entirely different kind of development, the Aga Khan’s new $200-million Ismaili Muslim community centre, began construction at Eglinton and Don Mills last year and is scheduled to open sometime in 2011.

HOUSING STOCK: While about half of the original development’s unique ranch styles remain intact, a large number of classic homes have been levelled in favour of massive cookie-cutter mansions (and the occasional more appealing design from the likes of prestigious architecture firm Shim-Sutcliffe).

BARGAIN ZONES: The townhouses southwest of the Shops at Don Mills are well priced, as are homes east of the Don and south of Lawrence.

THE VERDICT: Even though it’s in transition, Banbury–Don Mills offers homeowners the best of both worlds: the serenity of the suburbs and the convenience of downtown living. Rejuvenated retail and a diverse population promise to make the area even livelier.

Available Homes

Schools- Banbury-Don Mills Neighbourhood

NEIGHBOURHOOD HOT SPOTS:

Congee Queen The inexpensive pan-Asian restaurant draws huge lunchtime and late-night crowds with its finger-licking barbecue pork. 895 Lawrence Ave. E., 416-916-0338.
Katsura This fixture in the city’s Japanese dining scene offers creative teppanyaki along with a traditional sushi and sashimi menu. 900 York Mills Rd., 416-444-2511.
Toronto Botanical Garden This is a simple, serene spot for wedding parties and green thumbs alike. 777 Lawrence Ave. E., 416-397-1340

Nearby Restaurants

Fabbrica

Mark McEwan’s enormous Italian funhouse at The Shops at Don Mills is the first of ... (0.53 km away)

Congee Queen

The menu claims that its Assorted Fungus and Six-Grain Congee—brown rice, red rice, Japanese rice, ... (0.58 km away)

Island Foods

This popular West Indian Toronto chain offers over 10 different varieties of roti and nine ... (0.65 km away)

Glow

Glow was open for just three weeks before a fire shut it down last summer, ... (0.70 km away)

Kaiseki Yu-Zen Hashimoto

Masaki Hashimoto has opened a second restaurant in the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, designing and ... (1.70 km away)

Katsura

Hotel dining tends to be overlooked in this city. Our restaurant scene is dominated by ... (1.82 km away)