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Thinking of buying in Cabbagetown, comments?

A

Abeja de Almirante

Guest
I'm thinking of buying a three-level, plus basement Edwardian (built 1917) house in Cabbagetown (south of Spruce Street, North of Gerrard). I've always liked the area, and its Victorian houses north of Spruce. I've checked out both Winchester Public School and Spruce Public School, and both seem good for my kids. I'll likely go with Winchester as they offer French immersion and classes right through to Grade 8. My kids will likely then go to Jarvis Collegiate.

Thoughts on Cabbagetown? I'm in Riverdale now, but my place is falling down, and very small, so it's either fix it up and expand, or move. Moving is preferred.
 
It's a wonderful neighbourhood. Great little stores on Parliament, I do all my shopping locally. Everything is a 2-3 minute walk from my door. You'll get to know your neighbours, it's that type of area, and everybody seems to care about keeping their homes in good condition.

Crime seems to be up a bit in the past year but that goes in waves.
 
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Well if you'll be living in Cabbagetown you have to send them to a Catholic school :p
 
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Why Catholic School? If it's an Irish thing, IIRC there was plenty of Protestant Irish families in Cabbagetown in its early days.
 
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It feels like we're near the end of a cycle. I've noticed that Riverdale house prices have levelled off, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them fall a bit.
 
Re: RE:

Why Catholic School? If it's an Irish thing, IIRC there was plenty of Protestant Irish families in Cabbagetown in its early days.
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Cabbagetown was historically R.C. Irish, not Protestant.
 
I take back what I ... er, building babel ... said earlier. A completely gutted and renovated three storey semi in my Riverdale neighbourhood just sold for $825,000. It wasn't architecturally jaw-dropping either, just a nice bourgeois reno, with the same little rooms as before repainted with fashionable colours, nice new wood cabinets, closets and storage units, soundproofing, and soft, bouncy fitted carpets etc. Hardly cutting-edge design though. Quite a few little houses have gone on the market in the past couple of weeks since word got out. So, "fixing up" in Riverdale might remain an option to moving to Cabbagetown for some.
 
Oh, I hate those gutted renos you find in Riverdale and Cabbagetown. For me there's nothing worse than walking into a quaint Victorian, only to find out that the inside's been torn apart, with cavernous open-concept rubbish from the 1980s replacing the once tidy living areas. Those in the know in Cabbagetown emphasize restoration, never renovation when looking at historic houses.

For example, our Cabbagetown semi has a formal living room, a formal dining room, both with paster moldings, plus a long hallway and a separate kitchen. Those in the "reno" way of thinking would tear down the walls in the first floor and make the kitchen visible from all over the house. Myself, I love not being able to see the kitchen when I've got friends over for dinner.

Since my wife and I are into restoration, not renovation, we're updating the windows with the correct looking pieces, and cleaning and rebuilding the original cast iron and cast plaster trim and fittings.
 
To each their own - space that's appropriate to the way of living of the owner. My little Summer Palace would feel a bit claustrophobic if the ground floor rooms hadn't been opened up. I rarely have formal sit-down dinners, but if I did it would be less practical to have them in a separate room - unless they were catered.

One of the more interesting early reno's in my neighbourhood was done in the mid-1970's by Richard Beal who taught at OCA. In those days Riverdale was an unfashionable part of town that few outsiders talked about, let alone visited. A nice old detached house on Langley that bikers had been living in and set light to - I imagine that he bought it cheap - Richard opened it up from the third floor to the basement and created dramatic spaces. He built a contemporary style second house on some adjacent land.

There are a few nice Modernist buildings in the neighbourhood too. One of them, a duplex or triplex I think, was renovated a few years ago and some famous local pop singer and his girlfriend lived there. I forget their names. Dim Sum 41 or something ...
 
Urban Shocker said:
I rarely have formal sit-down dinners, but if I did it would be less practical to have them in a separate room
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I never or very rarely have formal dinners, but we use our diningroom every day for breakfast and dinner. It's right beside the kitchen, so the food's an easy reach. The only difference is that you're not staring into the kitchen while you eat. Agreed, it's just my opinion, so do what you want.
 
I wish someone'd buy the house my vile, arriviste new neighbours have been trying to flip. Someone nice and quiet.
 
Cabbagetown is a great little area. If you can find a nice place there, I say go for it. Good luck finding a reasonable price though.
 
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