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Manning Ave. heading towards Queen West, a gritty looking and very urban residential Toronto street. Obviously not all streets in Toronto look like this (most have more trees and a mix of rows, semis and SFH) but there are more than enough streets in the inner city that do look like this, and that's why it's hard to lump Toronto's built environment in with places like Cleveland or Milwaukee (or most other midwestern cities) where for the most part, they just didn't build residential streets that look like this.
I think Toronto has elements of several different U.S. cities. As far as the Midwest goes, I think Toronto is most aesthetically similar (at least in the residential areas) to Chicago and St. Louis, which makes since because these are the only major Midwest cities that built a crapload of brick two and four family flats throughout the city. These cities are also defined by their tight gangways between residential units, which gives the illusion of a row-house type street-wall, but they units rarely connect like they do in East Coast cities. With that said, I do think Toronto favors Pittsburgh and has a sprinkle of Philadelphia in areas. The massive amounts of hi-rise buildings also gives it an outer borough of N.Y. feel in certain areas.
I think Toronto has elements of several different U.S. cities. As far as the Midwest goes, I think Toronto is most aesthetically similar (at least in the residential areas) to Chicago and St. Louis, which makes since because these are the only major Midwest cities that built a crapload of brick two and four family flats throughout the city. These cities are also defined by their tight gangways between residential units, which gives the illusion of a row-house type street-wall, but they units rarely connect like they do in East Coast cities. With that said, I do think Toronto favors Pittsburgh and has a sprinkle of Philadelphia in areas. The massive amounts of hi-rise buildings also gives it an outer borough of N.Y. feel in certain areas.
Good assessment. Besides Chicago Toronto really doesn't bear any resemblance to US Great Lakes cities, even if they were founded largely around the same time.
A lot of early to mid 20th century Toronto feels Queens-like. I get that feel in areas as diverse as Bloor-Ossington, the Danforth, the Vaughan Rd.-Oakwood and Forest Hill areas, the Bathurst-Lawrence area, and the Etobicoke lakeshore.
Frequencies and connection from subway to surface transit is far better in Toronto than DC, Chicago and Boston. You can't just count the number of stations and conclude that more subway stations means inherently better transit system.
Speaking from the perspective of a person that has extensively riden both the "T" and TTC I would say they both have their pluses and minuses. The TTC has better frequencies and the streetcar system is more reliable than the MBTA green line. On the other hand I thought the subway coverage was noticeably better in Boston than Toronto and also considerably more affordable.
Riding what I get to ride now though, I don't miss either of them. They both have a ton of work to do to be considered world class transit systems. Just my view.
I think Toronto has elements of several different U.S. cities. As far as the Midwest goes, I think Toronto is most aesthetically similar (at least in the residential areas) to Chicago and St. Louis, which makes since because these are the only major Midwest cities that built a crapload of brick two and four family flats throughout the city. These cities are also defined by their tight gangways between residential units, which gives the illusion of a row-house type street-wall, but they units rarely connect like they do in East Coast cities. With that said, I do think Toronto favors Pittsburgh and has a sprinkle of Philadelphia in areas. The massive amounts of hi-rise buildings also gives it an outer borough of N.Y. feel in certain areas.
St. Louis has lots of those strange little one story brick shotgun houses. The only town where I've seen them. New Orleans has lots of shotgun houses but they're always made of wood.
St. Louis has lots of those strange little one story brick shotgun houses. The only town where I've seen them. New Orleans has lots of shotgun houses but they're always made of wood.
Show me some of those thousands of attached homes in Cleveland. Obviously "attached homes" per the U.S. census doesn't necessarily mean traditional rowhouses in the way that most urban enthusiasts would picture them. I'm sure Cleveland has some rows, but they are not nearly as prevalent as they are in old Toronto. Not even close. Cleveland's old residential neighbourhoods are dominated by wood frame housing and look much more sparce and spaced out than Toronto's dense, old brick neighbourhoods.
To some extent, that's true (re wood framed houses in older areas). But Cleveland is a bit of an odd fish among its Midwestern brethren like Milwaukee, Minneapolis and even Detroit, whereby many are on very small lots and next to some brick apartments or rows, as seen below. Because Cleveland had a strong streetcar system that influenced many districts, there are a number of older (pre-1920s, 30s) brick, mixed-use store/apartments above on commercial streets even in neighborhoods predominated by wood-frame homes. (note: Toronto is definitely different)
Cleveland has some of the finest streetcar suburbs in North America.
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