Most of Old East York, particularly south of Cosburn, was constructed before World War II in a traditionally urban, pedestrian-oriented block pattern.

Crescent Town is today a diverse multicultural neighbourhood, whose population includes extensive numbers of Bengali, Jamaican, Pakistani, and Tamil Canadians.

Housing stock is a pleasing mixture of mid-rise apartments, Victorian mansions, highrise condominiums, Edwardian workers cottages, and stately 1920s Craftsman homes.

The adjoining stretch of Danforth Avenue (from Victoria Park to Main) Street hosts a high concentration of Bangladeshi grocers, restaurants, clothing stores and entertainment venues.

Arguments over which church should have the use of this land led to the eventual sale of the clergy reserves, most of which had remained undeveloped for many years as surrounding areas were cleared and built on.

While Woodbine Heights is situated to the east of the Glebe Lands, it was actually developed earlier, around the railway station and horse-racing facilities at Main and Danforth.

Housing stock and street patterns at that time were chiefly of Edwardian design, and are typified by distinctive, narrow-lot variants of the Dutch Colonial Revival, Classical, and Cotswold styles.

It is currently undergoing rapid social transformation, with an influx of young families attracted to car-free city living, and character-filled, yet affordable, Edwardian homes.