Applewood

Applewood is bounded by Burnhamthorpe Road East to the north, the Queen Elizabeth Way to the south, Cawthra Road to the west and Etobicoke Creek, the Toronto border, to the east. Dixie Road, Bloor Street and Dundas Street East run through it.

Most of Applewood went up between the mid-1950s and the 1970s, and the streets read like a catalogue of that era. Applewood Acres, south of The Queensway, holds roughly 1,200 households in ranch bungalows, side-splits and back-splits, one-and-a-half-storey houses and two-storey homes on generous lots, and custom infill houses now stand beside the originals. Applewood Heights and Applewood Hills lean toward two-storey detached and semi-detached houses from the 1960s and 1970s on streets that carry the names of the Church, Haines, Graham, Stewart and Hedge farm families. Townhouse rows and condominium townhouse complexes gather near Dixie Road and Bloor Street, and that corner also holds the district's high-rises: Applewood Landmark at 1300 Bloor Street, 26 floors and 299 suites completed in 1978 by Shipp, and Applewood Place at 1333 Bloor Street, 25 floors and 441 suites from 1996 by the same company. Apartment buildings and a small mobile-home community round out the mix, so the range is wider than the bungalow streets suggest.

Dixie GO at 2445 Dixie Road, just south of Dundas Street East, is on the Milton line, with trains to Union Station in the morning and afternoon peaks and 685 parking spaces; the corridor is shared with CPKC freight, which limits off-peak service. MiWay's 5 Dixie stops at the station entrance, 1 Dundas runs around the clock to Kipling Terminal, and 3 Bloor and 26 Burnhamthorpe cross the district toward the TTC subway. The Mississauga Transitway's Dixie station on Eastgate Parkway is a short ride north for express buses. Drivers take the QEW at Dixie or Cawthra, Highway 427 at Dundas or Burnhamthorpe, and Highway 403 via Eastgate Parkway. Metrolinx's Dundas Street bus rapid transit remains a plan rather than a service.

Peel District School Board elementary schools in the district include Westacres Public School at 2165 Breezy Brae Drive in Applewood Acres, Silverthorn Public School at 3535 Cedar Creek Drive, Brian W. Fleming Public School at 3255 Havenwood Drive and Glenhaven Senior Public School at 3570 Havenwood Drive, with Tomken Road Middle School for the middle grades. Applewood Heights Secondary School at 945 Bloor Street East opened in 1966 and offers French immersion and a sports Specialist High Skills Major; Glenforest Secondary School at 3575 Fieldgate Drive runs the International Baccalaureate program. On the Catholic side, St. Alfred at 3341 Havenwood Drive and St. Thomas More at 3270 Tomken Road are the elementary options, and John Cabot Catholic Secondary School at 635 Willowbank Trail serves teens. Boundaries shift as enrolment changes, so confirm your address with each board before you commit.

Westacres Park has a playground, outdoor fitness equipment and a natural ice rink in winter, while Applewood Heights Park on Constitution Boulevard holds the city's Applewood Heights Outdoor Pool with summer lessons and public swims. The Applewood Trail follows the valley through the district and the Queensway Trail runs along the hydro corridor, both useful on a bike, and Etobicoke Creek on the eastern edge gives you a ravine walk. For errands, Applewood Village Plaza at 1077 North Service Road dates to 1955, Applewood Hills Plaza at 1125 Bloor Street East has an Independent Grocer, Shoppers Drug Mart and an LCBO, and Dixie Outlet Mall at 1250 South Service Road, the largest enclosed outlet mall in Canada, sits just across the QEW. Burnhamthorpe Community Centre and its library branch at 1500 Gulleden Drive on the north edge offer a 25-metre pool, a warm therapeutic pool and a fitness centre.

You will like Applewood if you want a detached house on a real lot without moving far from Toronto, since Highway 427 and the Kipling subway are minutes away by car or bus. Bungalows and splits in Applewood Acres suit families who plan to renovate or eventually rebuild, and the Havenwood and Golden Orchard streets put elementary schools within walking distance. The two Shipp towers on Bloor give downsizers large suites with pools and concierge service, and the townhouse blocks near Dixie and Bloor are a realistic first purchase for buyers who want a garage and a patch of yard rather than a balcony.