Grand Victorian houses built for Toronto's 19th-century elite, later chopped into student rentals
The Annex
Developed in the 1880s as an upscale suburb annexed into Toronto, the Annex's large Victorian and Romanesque houses were later subdivided into rooming houses as the University of Toronto grew next door.
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The Annex takes its name directly from its origins: in the 1880s, developer Simeon Janes began building a subdivision of large, architecturally ambitious houses north of Bloor Street, on land that was then outside Toronto's city limits. The area was annexed into the City of Toronto in 1887, and the name stuck. Its wide streets filled in with grand Victorian, Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne-style houses built for the city's professional and merchant class, many designed by prominent architects of the period.
From mansions to rooming houses
The neighbourhood's character shifted through the 20th century as the University of Toronto expanded along its southern edge, and many of the Annex's large single-family homes were subdivided into rooming houses and apartments to accommodate students and academics. That mix of grand original architecture and dense, informal student housing has defined the Annex ever since, and it remains one of Toronto's most architecturally intact 19th-century neighbourhoods despite decades of pressure from nearby development.
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