This area includes the southern part of Toronto’s Gay Village and heritage sites such as the Mackenzie House Museum, Gallery Arcturus and the Merchandise Building.

[1] This area quickly filled with overflow from central Toronto and includes a number of early, mostly non-government (especially religious) institutions such as the Metropolitan Methodist Church (Metropolitan United Church after church union in the 1920s), St Michael's Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Roman Catholic Bishop's Palace, St. Michael's Choir School and St Michael's Hospital, places of entertainment such as Massey Hall, the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, the Canon Theatre (formerly Pantages Theatre) and Maple Leaf Gardens as well as the Ryerson Model School (now a part of Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)) TMU's campus today stretches from Gerrard in the north, east to Mutual and south of Gould, west to Yonge, and includes The Image Centre, a photographic museum which is home to The Black Star Collection and the yearly Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival.

It was originally a very exclusive district and declined in time as the housing stock aged and smaller lots for workers were built.

There is a substantial Francophone presence because of the area’s French-language institutions near the neighbourhood, including Paroisse Sacré Cœur, a Roman Catholic parish, Le Collège français, and École élémentaire Gabrielle-Roy.

Le Collège français and École élémentaire Gabrielle-Roy are both operated by Conseil scolaire Viamonde, a secular public school board.