The Beaches: resort land turned residential
The Beaches filled in over about a century, so two houses on one street can have very different floors. The area became a summer resort for Torontonians in the 1870s, with amusement parks, summer homes and cottages (City of Toronto, The Beaches guide). Joseph Williams opened Kew Farms near Queen and Lee in 1853, and the City bought the grounds for a park in 1907; the Kew Williams House at 30 Lee Avenue dates from 1901 to 1902. Scarboro Beach amusement park closed in September 1925 and its 40 acres were subdivided for housing.
Today the side streets are mostly semi-detached and large Victorian and Edwardian houses, with newer infill. At the western edge, Lake Shore Boulevard only reached Woodbine in the 1950s, and the former Greenwood Raceway land was redeveloped as housing after the track closed in 1993. A converted cottage, an Edwardian semi on plank subfloor and a house on the old track land each squeak for a different reason.