This neighbourhood has many distinguishing characteristics including very large turn of the century houses, winding tree- lined streets, and an elevation atop the Davenport escarpment.

Once he built his brick home in 1830, Bartholomew Bull volunteered the use of his log cabin not only as the first school in the neighbourhood but also as a site where travelling Methodist clergy could preach.

The 1830s cottage of the toll keeper at Bathurst Street and Davenport Road survives and is located in a park at the northwest corner of the intersection.

Between 1900 and 1914, the land northwest of Regal Heights was developed by British immigrants who would buy property and build temporary shelters for their families before constructing their homes.

Many homes featured porches, while their interiors were graced with wood paneling, and leaded and stained glass influenced by the arts and crafts movement.

Building these homes was relatively easy because during the term of Toronto Mayor George Reginald Geary (1910-1912), streets were laid out and construction started on two schools, Regal Road elementary and Oakwood Collegiate Institute.

Before he became a leading member of the Group of Seven, Lawren Harris painted pictures of the homes and temporary shacks of residents in the Bathurst Street and St. Clair Avenue West area.

Although these art treasures were painted over in 1964 and considered lost forever; they were restored in 2008 as part of an expansion of the branch by the public library board.

McCarthy's murals were painted in the children's club room in 1932 and feature bright, energetic scenes from familiar British and American fairy tales, such as Jack the Giant Killer, Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella.

In the 1940s, the demand for housing grew quickly and some of the larger homes were subdivided to provide privacy for individual members of extended families, or extra income for the owner.

Marilyn Bell, the first swimmer to conquer Lake Ontario, lived in the neighbourhood as a child and swam in a pool now occupied by the parking lot for a local supermarket.

Tributaries of Garrison Creek, which supplied water to Fort York—the military camp that helped found Toronto in the 1790s—also shaped the local landscape.

Treated well, the land can be productive and during the 19th century small farms and market gardens were established to feed surrounding communities such as the Villages of Carlton, Davenport, Brockton and Yorkville, as well as the City of Toronto.

In 1853, printer, editor, politician and businessman, George Thomson bought a house in the nearby Carleton Village, at St. Clair Avenue West and Old Weston Road.