Church-Wellesley · Yorkville · Downtown
A neighbourhood built around a subway crossing
Charles Street East sits one block below Bloor and a few steps east of Yonge, which puts it on the northern edge of Church-Wellesley, across the road from Yorkville and a walk from the University of Toronto. Toronto’s two main subway lines cross under the corner.
Getting out
Four ways off this block
Both subway lines are a three-minute walk, two more stations are inside eight minutes, and most daily errands are on foot.
Line 1 Yonge–University
Six stops south to Union Station
Bloor-Yonge station · 3 min walk
Wellesley, College, TMU, Queen, King, Union. Trains run every 2 to 3 minutes in rush hour and every 4 to 5 minutes outside it.
Line 2 Bloor–Danforth
East and west across the whole city
Bloor-Yonge station · 3 min walk
Line 2 crosses Line 1 under the same intersection and runs from Kipling in the west to Kennedy in the east. St George, for the middle of the University of Toronto campus, is two stops west.
A second way in
Two more stations inside eight minutes
Wellesley and Bay stations · 7 min walk
Wellesley is the next Line 1 stop south and Bay is the next Line 2 stop west. When Bloor-Yonge is crowded, and at rush hour it is, either one gets you onto the same trains from a quieter platform.
On foot
Most errands without a train
Groceries · 2 to 3 min walk
H Mart, Longo's and Shoppers Drug Mart are all within three minutes, and the Toronto Reference Library is five. Most days you will not need the subway at all.
Around you
Places you will use
Four places most residents end up using in the first month.
Bloor-Yonge station
The busiest station on the subway, where Line 1 and Line 2 cross. The Yonge platforms opened in 1954, the Bloor ones in 1966. Three minutes from the front door.
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge Street, five minutes north. Raymond Moriyama's 1977 building is the largest public reference library in Canada, and the best free desk in the city when your room is not where you want to work.
Village of Yorkville Park
A strip of small gardens along Cumberland Street, with pines, crabapple trees, a wetland and a granite boulder big enough to sit on. It is the closest patch of green, about nine minutes away across Bloor.
University of Toronto, St George campus
Victoria University, the eastern edge of the campus, is a ten-minute walk west along Charles Street. King's College Circle, the middle of it, is about eighteen.
The practical list
Where you buy things
Downtown is well served for groceries and expensive if you pick the wrong shop.
- H Mart
- 703 Yonge Street. Korean and pan-Asian supermarket, open late.
- 2 min walk
- Shoppers Drug Mart
- 728 Yonge Street. Pharmacy, toiletries, the things you forgot.
- 2 min walk
- Rabba Fine Foods
- 9 Isabella Street. Small, and open 24 hours, which is its point.
- 3 min walk
- Longo's
- 100 Bloor Street East. The nearest full supermarket.
- 3 min walk
- No Frills
- 345 Bloor Street East. The discount shop, worth the walk weekly.
- 10 min walk
- Loblaws
- 60 Carlton Street, inside the old Maple Leaf Gardens. The big one.
- 15 min walk
The streets
Where the building sits
Charles Street East is the northern edge of Church-Wellesley, the neighbourhood that runs south along Church Street and has been the centre of LGBTQ life in Toronto for decades. Pride Toronto takes over these streets every June. Cross Bloor and you are in Yorkville; cross Yonge and you are walking towards the university.
It is a dense, busy corner of downtown, mostly apartment towers and rentals, with shops open late along Yonge Street. Expect street noise on the Yonge side and crowds around Pride weekend.
And when you want the city
Six stops, one train, no transfer
Line 1 runs from Bloor-Yonge straight down Yonge Street to College, Queen, King and Union. You do not change trains, which in February is the part that counts.
See the residence