While researching the original converted fourplex, I found that there are actually 4 similar buildings. While not re-purposed industrial properties, they have been converted from their original rental roots. This type of housing is very common throughout The Beaches, we have all seen them.

The 5 buildings are as follows:
23-25 Scarboro Beach Boulevard
35-37 Scarboro Beach Boulevard
46 & 50 Wineva Avenue
28 Glen Manor Road

One of the Scarboro Beach Lofts at 23 Scarboro Beach Boulevard

Each of these restored homes in the Beaches is split into four lofts, with each resident owning a quarter of the title to the entire property. Approval from other owners is required, as each is a co-ownership and not a standard condominium. As far as I know, these might be the only co-ownership lofts in all of Toronto.

Character and charm abounds inside 23 Scarboro Beach Boulevard

Units in the various buildings range up to almost 2,000 square feet and are less than a block from the boardwalk along the lake. These lofts are either a single level on the ground floor or multi-level on the top two floors. The upper units have up to eight skylights in a cathedral ceiling that runs the length of the main living space, which includes the kitchen, and the living and dining areas.

Another of the cozy units inside 23 Scarboro Beach Boulevard

Fourplexes such as these were a common design from developers back in the 1920s. There were many cool Arts and Crafts style homes, many of which still remain, influenced by the work of Eden Smith. Known more for his work in the west end, Wychwood Park in particular, his influence is all over The Beaches today as well.

Another of the Scarboro Beach Lofts at 50 Wineva Avenue

In 1906, the Toronto Park Company purchased the 17-hectare O’Connor farm, south of Queen Street East between Leuty and MacLean Avenues, from the Sisters of St. Joseph. The Scarboro Beach Park was formally opened on June 1, 1907 by Mayor Emerson Coatsworth. Its development was closely linked to the Toronto Railway Company’s streetcar service to the area.

Pre-WWI postcard advertising Scarboro Beach Park

The resort offered a hundred attractions including a 400m long roller coaster ride, a “Shoot the Chutes” flume ride, a “Bump the Bumps” slide and a “Tunnel of Love.” Performers used the 38m tower for daredevil acts. At night, thousands of lights decorated the park. Professional lacrosse and other sports were played at the Athletic Grounds which featured a wooden velodrome. The first public exhibition flights in Canada were made here by Charles Willard in September 1909.

Riding Scarboro Beach Park’s roller coaster in very Victorian style

With the escalation of land value and the resulting increased taxes, the park was sold to the city in 1925. Sometime after this it was resold to real estate developers who were actively buying up estates in the area for housing developments. The developer eventually bulldozed the site, new streets were laid out and houses were built.

Ad for the homes being built on the site of the old Scarboro Beach Park

One of the major developers among them were the Price Brothers, a team of Toronto-based real estate developers who built more than 200 houses in the area. Best known of their work is a whole section of architecturally unique fourplexes characterized by their front porches, arched verandas and columns. Several of these fourplexes on Wineva Avenue have been listed on the City of Toronto’s Inventory of Heritage Properties as a result of their unique design, though they are south of our subject properties.

Another of the Beaches fourplexes, this one at 35-37 Scarboro Beach Boulevard

Around the same time, the development of one of the most beautiful residential areas was well underway. This was the Stewart Manor property, developed on the former Ames Estate on both sides of Glen Manor Road. Alfred Earnest Ames was the youngest president of the Toronto Stock Exchange, and one of many successful stockbrokers and business people who lived in Toronto mansions but owned summer homes in the Beach.

Plaque at the foot of Scarboro Beach Boulevard

In 1921 and 1928, all non-built lots in the vicinity of Glen Manor Drive were held by two owners (the Toronto Savings and Loan Company, for lots north of Queen Street, and the Price Brothers for lots south of Queen Street). Not surprisingly, speculative building was also underway, as suggested by the fact that about one in ten dwellings in the 1929 sample (excluding unfinished structures) was listed as vacant.

Scarboro Beach Park survives only in the name, used for a street, Scarborough Beach Boulevard, which sits on the site of the former path that led from Queen Street East to the entrance gate of the park.

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Contact Laurin Jeffrey for more information – 416-388-1960

Laurin Jeffrey is a Toronto real estate agent with Century 21 Regal Realty.
He did not write every article, some are reproduced here for people who
are interested in Toronto real estate. He does not work for any builders.
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