George Street, Toronto

[1] Its southern blocks are within the grid of the townsite of the original town of York, Upper Canada.

[1][3] Today, the north end of the street, next to Seaton House men's shelter, is an example of urban blight.

The City of Toronto government is redeveloping the street with a new Seaton House institution focused more on long-term care.

Several abandoned buildings have been bought by the city, and others have been expropriated to facilitate the redevelopment – the George Street Revitalization Project.

On the south-east corner, stretching north along George, is the historic Bank of Upper Canada Building, which dates to 1827.

The west side is residential townhomes and the back of a Jarvis Street apartment building and hotel.

Located on the east side is Seaton House (a large City-operated homeless shelter) and several heritage homes dating to the 1800s.

George Brown College - St James Campus - took over the former Christie's factory, and buildings on Adelaide and King Streets were restored.

The gentrification of the adjacent areas of St. Lawrence, Cabbagetown and the "Garden District" has seen several residential homes on George Street repurposed and restored.

[3] According to one Toronto Star report, the block decayed so badly that locals referred to the area as "little Detroit".

[6] In 2014 and 2015, the City of Toronto stepped in to purchase and expropriate several of the properties, which have heritage designations, and added them to the Seaton House complex and the George Street Revitalisation.

I have yet to meet anyone who is not alarmed to see the conditions.” She wrote that the northern section of the street should be "prime real estate", due to heritage properties and being close to Ryerson University.

The Star report concluded that the city's purchase of derelict heritage properties could mark a turning point for the street.