Humber Heights – Westmount

Douglas B. Ford Park
1521 Royal York Road
A 1.6-hectare park on Royal York Road, south of Lawrence Avenue West that features a children's playground. The park follows the Humber Creek as it flows along the park's eastern border. The park is named for Doug Ford Sr., who was a Progressive Conservative MPP from 1995 to 1999, representing the former riding of Etobicoke-Humber. Ford Sr. is the father of the late, former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, and Premier of Ontario Doug Ford.

St. Philip's Anglican Church and Cemetery
31 St. Phillip's Road
This heritage-designated church is the second church congregation established in Etobicoke. Its first service was held in 1824 with 16 families present. The original church burned down in 1888, and was replaced by the current building in 1894. There is also a cemetery surrounding the church, with many people from Etobicoke's nineteenth century past buried here. These include William Thistle (whom the area of Thistletown in Etobicoke is named after), as well as many unfortunate victims of smallpox and diphtheria epidemics, which plagued the city in the 1830s and 1840s. St. Phillip's Road was named after the church's first rector, Dr. Thomas Phillips, who served until his death in 1849 and performed over 3,000 baptisms, burials, and weddings during his tenure.

Greystones (Former Home of Arthur and Margaret Crumpton)
55 St. Phillip's Road
*Note: Private property. Please observe the house from the street only. This heritage-designated house was constructed for Arthur Crumpton, a Canadian National Railway (CNR) construction engineer who moved here from Montreal with his wife Margaret. The land upon which it is built was once owned by the Wadsworth family, who operated successful mills on the west bank of the Humber River for almost 90 years, selling it to Margaret Crumpton in the 1920s. When the home was originally built in 1925, it provided spectacular views over the Humber River, and the CNR trains as they crossed the bridge over it. The home was named 'Greystones' because of the beautiful stone cladding that makes up its exterior. Margaret tended to spectacular rose gardens that surrounded the home and added to its visual appeal. The home was designed in Tudor Revival style, featuring medieval-inspired elements, steeply-pitched gable roofs, and multi-paned Tudor style windows. The house now operates as a church.

Riverlea Park
919 Scarlett Road
This small park near the shore of the Humber River includes an outdoor bocce court, a playground, and a parking lot. Perhaps its most interesting feature is the large greenhouse, which offers the only greenhouse allotment garden in Toronto. Allotment gardens are available to residents for a fee to grow their own plants. Because of its unique climate-controlled setting, many local residents have grown exotic and tropical plants not normally found in Toronto here over the years, including banana, mango, papaya, olive and avocado trees, and many others.

Former Humber Heights Consolidated School
2245 Lawrence Avenue West
*Note: Private property. Please observe the building from the street only. This heritage-designated former school has a long and fascinating history. It was originally opened in 1921, designed in Georgian Revival style by architect JB Cook. It was the very first consolidated school in Ontario, drawing students from three separate schoolhouses, and was touted to be, 'the most modern school of its time'. When Hurricane Hazel devastated this area in October of 1954, the school building was used as a temporary morgue, health unit, and community fire station. The school closed in the early 1980s, and has been significantly altered from its original form. It has since been transformed into a retirement home and, despite attempts by the community to preserve its architectural integrity, only a small part of the original building remains (viewable near the entrance off of Westona Street).

Former John and Louise Harrison House
11 Yorkleigh Avenue
*Note: Private property. Please observe the house from the street only. This heritage-designated home was constructed in approximately 1867 by Reverend William Johnson, who was the rector of the nearby St. Phillip's Anglican Church. He gifted the home to his widowed daughter, Laura Louise, on the occasion of her second marriage to John Harrison. Some of its more striking architectural features include its tall double gable roof, fine woodwork, and bi-colour brick trim.

Former St. Matthias Anglican Church
691 Scarlett Road
This heritage-designated building was originally constructed in 1895 as a church in the Malton area, and was moved here to become St. Matthias Anglican Church in 1923. It is a rare example of a late-nineteenth century Victorian Gothic frame country church, featuring a steeply-pitched cross-gable roof with a bell cote, and Gothic-style windows containing stained glass. Tragically, forty percent of the church's members perished during Hurricane Hazel, which devastated the area in October 1954. The church was one of the main centres of the subsequent relief effort, providing life necessities to local survivors of the disastrous storm. In 2010, the church was purchased by the Sukyo Mahikari organization of Japan, who worked with a heritage consultant and the City of Toronto to preserve this neighbourhood landmark, winning an Award of Merit from Heritage Toronto for their restoration work.

Raymore Park
95 Raymore Drive
Situated in a bend along the Humber River, this park has tragic roots. Once home to a quiet residential neighbourhood, 14 homes on Raymore Drive were swept away by the raging floodwaters of Hurricane Hazel in 1954. This resulted in the deaths of 35 neighbourhood residents (which constitutes over forty percent of the total Hurricane Hazel death toll in Canada). In the aftermath of the storm, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) was created to manage the region's floodplains and rivers. One action taken to avoid another disaster similar to Hurricane Hazel was to alter zoning laws so that redevelopment would be prohibited on the banks of the Humber River, including along Raymore Drive, where property was expropriated and transformed into Raymore Park. A small plaque near the Raymore Bridge over the Humber River in the park pays tribute to the victims of Hurricane Hazel, and the subsequent creation of the TRCA.

Former Edward Scarlett House
1 Heritage Place
*Note: Private property. Please observe the house from the street only. This heritage-designated home once belonged to Edward Scarlett, son of John Scarlett, who owned a number of mills along the Humber River in this area. Edward became a lumber merchant, and built this home for himself sometime around 1865. Some of the notable architectural features of the home include a hipped roof, square and symmetrical facade, and a front door with a transom light above it, as well as two sidelights. Members of the Scarlett family owned homes all along the river here, and the road that connected all of their properties has become present-day Scarlett Road. The land surrounding this house was sold off over the course of the twentieth century, with the new Heritage Place cul-de-sac created in the 1970s, and a small subdivision developing around it.

Canadian Ukrainian Memorial Park
425 Scarlett Road
Located near Scarlett Road and Eglinton Avenue, the Canadian Ukrainian Memorial Park is dedicated to Canadians of Ukrainian origin that served in the Canadian Military. You can find a commemorative monument in the southwest corner of the park. The Humber River runs through the heart of the park and there is an extensive trail system you can follow both to the north and south the park. It is a beautiful spot to hike, bike, and enjoy the playground.