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Miscellany Toronto Photographs: Then and Now

IN 1991!......Yours for $112;900 - One of the cheapest houses on the Metro market is 51 Ennerdale Rd. TPL

View attachment 297997
photo 2011
View attachment 297998

Listing History​

Buy/sell history for 51 Ennerdale Rd, Toronto (Detached)​




Wow last time it sold was for over $700,000!!!!!

Date StartDate EndPriceEventListing ID
2018-06-152018-06-19$710,000SoldW4162916
2016-04-262016-05-02$571,000SoldW3476246
2008-03-042008-03-17$185,500SoldW1319832
2004-06-172004-06-21$146,000SoldW482492
2004-04-232004-04-30$137,000SoldW444863
2003-03-12$-Inactive
 
Kennedy Rd., 1956 - possibly, former Scarborough Junction Post Office - S-W corner St. Clair Ave. E.; looking N-W - TPL
Kennedy Rd., 1956 - possibly, former Scarborough Junction Post Office - S-W corner St. Clair A...jpg


Kennedy Rd. at St. Clair Ave. E.jpg
 

Listing History​

Buy/sell history for 51 Ennerdale Rd, Toronto (Detached)​




Wow last time it sold was for over $700,000!!!!!

Date StartDate EndPriceEventListing ID
2018-06-152018-06-19$710,000SoldW4162916
2016-04-262016-05-02$571,000SoldW3476246
2008-03-042008-03-17$185,500SoldW1319832
2004-06-172004-06-21$146,000SoldW482492
2004-04-232004-04-30$137,000SoldW444863
2003-03-12$-Inactive
My father bought our house in North Toronto (Avenue Rd and Lawrence) in 1961 for something like $30,000 and thought he did well when he sold in 1979 for $100,000. Now the average price is closing in on $2 million. Insane.
 
Kennedy Rd., 1956 - possibly, former Scarborough Junction Post Office - S-W corner St. Clair Ave. E.; looking N-W - TPL
View attachment 298186

View attachment 298187
Though I am certainly not sure, the "now' photo looks different to the 'then' one. There is what appears to be a steep drop behind the house in 'then' that is not apparent in the 'now'. Of course, there could have been land-filling!
 
Kennedy Rd., 1956 - possibly, former Scarborough Junction Post Office - S-W corner St. Clair Ave. E.; looking N-W - TPL
View attachment 298186

View attachment 298187
Though I am certainly not sure, the "now' photo looks different to the 'then' one. There is what appears to be a steep drop behind the house in 'then' that is not apparent in the 'now'. Of course, there could have been land-filling!

Same 'today' shot, but from the St. Clair side, looking east to Kennedy:

1612718252407.png


There is still a material elevation change here; though almost certainly smoother, given the site was made-over for commercial development.

It is the same site as the historic photo; you can see Pine Hills cemetery at the N/W corner of the St. Clair/Kennedy intersection in both pics.

Edit to add:

@DSC you got me thinking about how much the ravine was filled in.............and I can see evidence; by going to the Lost Rivers site.

Look at this graphic:

1612718585671.png


The orange and red are streams that have been lost to history.

The blue is Taylor-Massey Creek which still passes through the cemetery.

Look at the one orange line that almost wrapped the south-west corner of the intersection; and another at what would be the low-point of St. Clair btw Birchmount and Kennedy.

All of that was erased either by straight-fill, or pipes and fill.

If you haven't enjoy the Lost Rivers Map which shows you the streams of Toronto that have vanished over the years.............here's the link:

 
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Whenever the subject of real-estate comes up, I get a kick out of the facial expressions I see when I announce that I'm still living in my 1958, $15,000 home
Does it still have 60-amp electrical using fuses and tube-and-knob wiring? Coal furnace or boiler? Single-pane windows (put up winter storm windows)? How's the insulation?

All that "adds" to the capital value.
 
Does it still have 60-amp electrical using fuses and tube-and-knob wiring? Coal furnace or boiler? Single-pane windows (put up winter storm windows)? How's the insulation?

All that "adds" to the capital value.
I believe new homes in 1958 were long-past "tube & knob", and coal furnaces were out-of-date by that time, since oil & gas was available.
"Single pane" for sure.....many added aluminum storms & screens........and increased attic insulation after a few years.
Upgraded to 100-amp service, but still with 50% fuses.

I'm fond of the old saying: "The man who owns his own home deserves it!"
 
I believe new homes in 1958 were long-past "tube & knob", and coal furnaces were out-of-date by that time, since oil & gas was available.
"Single pane" for sure.....many added aluminum storms & screens........and increased attic insulation after a few years.
Upgraded to 100-amp service, but still with 50% fuses.

I'm fond of the old saying: "The man who owns his own home deserves it!"

My house was built in 1956.

We had an oil furnace with fuses and single pane glass as built according to my neighbour who bought from the floor plans. We had to upgrade to breakers to get insurance (they were claiming fuses were not entirely up to code and more of a liability) and to run our AC.

The oil furnace was stinky, dirty and left soot through the house.

We did not have knob and tube but we did find stereo wires powering our lights in the basement. We always wondered what that burning smell was.... turns out it was the wiring.
 
I believe new homes in 1958 were long-past "tube & knob", and coal furnaces were out-of-date by that time, since oil & gas was available.
"Single pane" for sure.....many added aluminum storms & screens........and increased attic insulation after a few years.
Upgraded to 100-amp service, but still with 50% fuses.

I'm fond of the old saying: "The man who owns his own home deserves it!"
My first house as an “adult “ had 60 amp service. Things were forever popping. And don’t touch the stove and fridge at the same time! Who needed sex? The thrill of an electrical lifter! And the wretched aluminium windows froze in the winter and one could not open them. I later had a century house in 1990 with knob and tube. At least that house had 200amp service, and yes, I had an electrician go over it.
 
All those "extras" that come today standard in new homes have to be installed or upgraded in old homes. That would be included in the cost of "renovations", which add to the "original" cost but would increase the value of the "current" home. Wonder how many of the 19th century built homes now had indoor toilets installed? I remember discovering an abandoned septic tank under the grass in the backyard of our old "Township of York" home.
 
Knob and tube wiring started to disappear in the 1940s although I doubt there is a hard date. It is still legal through grandfathering. Similarly, residential coal started to disappear in the 1950s but, again, no hard date. My folks bought a house in North York in 1956 that had been built in 1951. It had a coal convection furnace that dad had converted to forced-air oil (no gas) right after moving in. In had a septic until sewers came down the road in the 60s.

What amenities a 'turn of the century' house likely depends on services available. Urban houses likely had indoor plumbing, but no guarantee, and probably some manner of low-amperage electrical service. Really, what did they need for a few bulbs and maybe a toaster. Whether rural houses had any of that depends on what was running down the road; you can't have a flush toilet w/o pressurized water and you can't have that w/o a pump. Our previous place was an 1890s-built farm house. Interestingly, there is no evidence of K&T wiring - just the original cloth/tar romex, so it seems they went without until at least the 1940s.
 

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