Front of old brick building painted with a large blue mural, and Pride flags hanging off it. In front of the building, a lamp post with hanging flower pots. In the background, a large lush tree and a high-rise condo building.
Stroll TO
Founding Sponsor American Express

North St. James Town

Julien Opie 'People Walking' Art Installation
333 Bloor Street East
Created by British artist Julien Opie, 'People Walking' is displayed on a 10-by-6-foot screen installed at the corner of Bloor Street East and Ted Rogers Way. It depicts a busy scene of life-sized pedestrians walking past each other on the street. Opie used his own line drawings based on nine real people to create the moving images, which are delineated by LED lights. This work of public art is meant to reflect the everyday dynamics of people at a busy street corner.

Michael Snow 'Red Orange and Green' Sculpture
69 Huntley Street
Designed by Michael Snow in 1992, 'Red Orange and Green' is a sculpture of three different intersecting metal planes with natural designs cut into them. Snow developed it with the intention that it would resemble a flipbook while driving past it. Born in 1928, and a graduate from the Ontario College of Art, Michael Snow has had a long career as an artist in Canada, working in a range of media including sculpture, photography, music, painting, and film. Snow's other public art works include the suspended 'Flight Stop' installation in the Eaton Centre, and 'The Audience' sculptures on the exterior walls of the Rogers Centre.

Casey House
119 Isabella Street
This restored heritage house, built in 1875, and attached purpose-built facility is now home to Casey House, the only dedicated HIV/AIDS health care organization in Toronto and the first stand-alone HIV/AIDS hospital in Canada. Casey House was founded by a group of volunteers and first opened on Huntley Street in 1988, providing compassionate care to HIV/AIDS patients during a time when they were faced with isolation and discrimination. The organization was spearheaded by writer and activist June Callwood, and named for her son who died in a motorcycle accident in 1982. The award winning construction of the new facility here at 119 Isabella Street allows for greater capacity to provide health care services, day health programs, and community care.

Rupert Simpson House and Mary Perram House
2-4 Wellesley Place
*Note: Private property. Please observe the buildings from the sidewalk only. These two houses are remnants of the homes owned by wealthy residents of the neighbourhood at the end of the nineteenth century. Rupert Simpson House, named after the co-owner of the Toronto Knitting and Yarn Factory, is an example of the Romanesque Revival style. The house next door was named after Mary Perram, the widow who occupied the home in 1877, and blends Italianate and Gothic Revival features. Both homes were later acquired by the Sisters of Service in the 1920s, a Roman Catholic women's order. They operated Mary Perram House as a hospice for immigrant women until 1950. The buildings were later acquired by Princess Margaret Hospital to be used as an office space, research facility, and nurse's residence. The homes were last restored in 2005, and Mary Perram House has resumed its use as a hospice.

Wellesley - Magill Park
125 Homewood Avenue
Located along Homewood Avenue, Wellesley - Magill Park is a small wooded park, decorated with stones and featuring many benches. The park was designed as a meeting place for the neighbourhood by landscape architect Cornelia Oberlander. Named for both community leader Dennis Magill and Wellesley Central Hospital, the park honours the workers who graduated from the Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing and served the community for 90 years. Dennis Magill was the first community Director of the Wellesley Hospital, and was part of the project to transform the lands of the now-closed hospital into supportive housing and long-term care buildings. The park features a steel public art installation titled 'Forest Walk', designed by artist Ed Pien. The art piece is made up of eight panels, decorated with scenes of people in nature. The panels represent a dedication to wellness, health, and benevolence in honour of the former hospital.

Wellesley Community Centre
495 Sherbourne Street
Located in between Wellesley Street East and Sherbourne Street, Wellesley Community Centre serves the St. James Town community through programs aimed at all ages, including sports leagues for children, youth, and adults, and various camps for children. The centre also features youth-specific programming, including arts and dance programs, youth clubs, and general interest programs. Wellesley Community Centre is home to the St. James Town Library, which first officially opened in 2004. The library won the Library Buildings Award given by the Ontario Library Association for its architecture in 2007. The library is home to a number of different language collections, including Chinese, French, Tagalog, Hindi, Russian, and Tamil. This community centre and public library branch were built as part of a community action plan to revitalize the area in the early 2000s. The plan also included improvements to local parks and repairs to the many towers housing North St. James Town residents.

Sean Martindale Mural and the St. James Town Community Corner
215 Bleecker Street
This monumental 32-storey mural - one of the tallest in the world - depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes and wrapping around the building to pay tribute to a previous fire in the building and promote a feeling of soaring and positivity. The mural shares a building with the St. James Town Community Corner, which first opened in 2011. The Corner is made up of accessible offices, meeting rooms, program spaces, and a community kitchen. It is the result of a partnership between local volunteer residents and service providers to increase access to community resources for St. James Town residents.

St. James Town West Park
589 Sherbourne Street
Located just along Sherbourne Street, St. James Town West Park features paved routes through a green space circling around trees and gardens. The park was part of the Recipe for Community project to improve community spaces in the St. James Town neighbourhood. It resides at the site of a demolished building, and local residents worked with Evergreen to plant 49 species of native plants. This, in turn, has attracted a wide range of butterflies and birds that frequent the park. The park features a Butterfly Garden, Meadow Garden, and a Four Directions Garden, with circular designs based on the medicine wheel, arranged around the four cardinal compass points. A mural designed by local youth can also be found within the park. Titled Article 26 (from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights), it celebrates the right to education and depicts scenes of students and teachers in a natural setting.

James Cooper House and Eldon Garnet's 'Inversion' Sculptures
582 Sherbourne Street
*Note: Private property. Please observe the buildings from the sidewalk only. Built in 1881, this house was the private residence of James Cooper, a partner in the footwear manufacturing firm Cooper and Smith. It was later acquired in 1910 by the Toronto Council of the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic fraternal and mutual aid organization. The house is heritage-designated property, and is an example of Second Empire style. It retains a number of its original features, including a mansard roof and rich detailing in wood and stone. A towering 33-storey condominium development is a new addition to the heritage building, with the original house still used for the condominium's amenities. The exterior of the house also features 'Inversion', a work of public art designed by Eldon Garnet. Comprising an array of statues depicting the urban wildlife of Toronto, the art installation expresses the desire to return a sense of nature to our environment, instead of building walls against it.

Jim Bravo Mural
26 Glen Road
This mural depicts the area's ravine landscape prior to the development of the neighbourhood and acts as a contrast to the area's increasing density by celebrating the once simplistic and beautifully dense local natural settings.

Shayona Panth Artbox
Southeast corner of Howard Street and Rose Avenue
The Bell Box Murals project has transformed utility cabinets into works of art. This piece depicts diverse faces surrounded by organic foliage.

Jim Bravo Artbox
Northeast corner of Wellesley Street East and Rose Avenue
The Bell Box Murals project has transformed utility cabinets into works of art. This piece depicts muralists painting a colourful mural.

<< Back to StrollTO Home

Explore North St. James Town

Now is the time for residents to experience all that tourists have been raving about for years. Discover shops, stops, places and spaces on city main streets. Stay curious, Toronto.

We want to hear from you! Click here to complete a short survey

Don't Miss

Painting Icon ArtworxTO:

Explore FREE Public Art Across the City. Toronto's Year of Public Art 2021-2022 is a year-long celebration of Toronto's exceptional public art collection and the creative community behind it.

We hope that you enjoyed exploring this Toronto neighbourhood and found many other points of interest along the way. While StrollTO highlights some of the 'hidden gems' in the neighbourhood, there may be others that could be included in a future edition. Would you like to share a point of interest that you discovered in the neighbourhood? Email us at [email protected].

Neighbourhood Stroll

This stroll takes you through the diverse North St. James Town neighbourhood, characterized by its towering high-rises named after Canadian cities, repurposed heritage buildings, and beautiful works of public art. One of the densest neighbourhoods in Canada, North St. James Town continues to be a home for many Toronto newcomers. Experience vibrant public murals and art installations at the heart of revitalized community spaces, such as the Sean Martindale Mural above the St. James Town Community Corner. The stroll will take you through public parks including St. James Town West Park, while showcasing some of the historic nineteenth century buildings that have found a new life as health and community centres, such as Casey House. This walk connects you to the Cabbagetown BIA, where you can explore an exciting range of restaurants, shops, and small businesses.

Main Streets: Bloor Street East, Parliament Street and Jarvis Street
  1. Julien Opie 'People Walking' Art Installation
    333 Bloor Street East
    Created by British artist Julien Opie, 'People Walking' is displayed on a 10-by-6-foot screen installed at the corner of Bloor Street East and Ted Rogers Way. It depicts a busy scene of life-sized pedestrians walking past each other on the street. Opie used his own line drawings based on nine real people to create the moving images, which are delineated by LED lights. This work of public art is meant to reflect the everyday dynamics of people at a busy street corner.
  2. Michael Snow 'Red Orange and Green' Sculpture
    69 Huntley Street
    Designed by Michael Snow in 1992, 'Red Orange and Green' is a sculpture of three different intersecting metal planes with natural designs cut into them. Snow developed it with the intention that it would resemble a flipbook while driving past it. Born in 1928, and a graduate from the Ontario College of Art, Michael Snow has had a long career as an artist in Canada, working in a range of media including sculpture, photography, music, painting, and film. Snow's other public art works include the suspended 'Flight Stop' installation in the Eaton Centre, and 'The Audience' sculptures on the exterior walls of the Rogers Centre.
  3. Casey House
    119 Isabella Street
    This restored heritage house, built in 1875, and attached purpose-built facility is now home to Casey House, the only dedicated HIV/AIDS health care organization in Toronto and the first stand-alone HIV/AIDS hospital in Canada. Casey House was founded by a group of volunteers and first opened on Huntley Street in 1988, providing compassionate care to HIV/AIDS patients during a time when they were faced with isolation and discrimination. The organization was spearheaded by writer and activist June Callwood, and named for her son who died in a motorcycle accident in 1982. The award winning construction of the new facility here at 119 Isabella Street allows for greater capacity to provide health care services, day health programs, and community care.
  4. Rupert Simpson House and Mary Perram House
    2-4 Wellesley Place
    *Note: Private property. Please observe the buildings from the sidewalk only. These two houses are remnants of the homes owned by wealthy residents of the neighbourhood at the end of the nineteenth century. Rupert Simpson House, named after the co-owner of the Toronto Knitting and Yarn Factory, is an example of the Romanesque Revival style. The house next door was named after Mary Perram, the widow who occupied the home in 1877, and blends Italianate and Gothic Revival features. Both homes were later acquired by the Sisters of Service in the 1920s, a Roman Catholic women's order. They operated Mary Perram House as a hospice for immigrant women until 1950. The buildings were later acquired by Princess Margaret Hospital to be used as an office space, research facility, and nurse's residence. The homes were last restored in 2005, and Mary Perram House has resumed its use as a hospice.
  5. Wellesley - Magill Park
    125 Homewood Avenue
    Located along Homewood Avenue, Wellesley - Magill Park is a small wooded park, decorated with stones and featuring many benches. The park was designed as a meeting place for the neighbourhood by landscape architect Cornelia Oberlander. Named for both community leader Dennis Magill and Wellesley Central Hospital, the park honours the workers who graduated from the Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing and served the community for 90 years. Dennis Magill was the first community Director of the Wellesley Hospital, and was part of the project to transform the lands of the now-closed hospital into supportive housing and long-term care buildings. The park features a steel public art installation titled 'Forest Walk', designed by artist Ed Pien. The art piece is made up of eight panels, decorated with scenes of people in nature. The panels represent a dedication to wellness, health, and benevolence in honour of the former hospital.
  6. Wellesley Community Centre
    495 Sherbourne Street
    Located in between Wellesley Street East and Sherbourne Street, Wellesley Community Centre serves the St. James Town community through programs aimed at all ages, including sports leagues for children, youth, and adults, and various camps for children. The centre also features youth-specific programming, including arts and dance programs, youth clubs, and general interest programs. Wellesley Community Centre is home to the St. James Town Library, which first officially opened in 2004. The library won the Library Buildings Award given by the Ontario Library Association for its architecture in 2007. The library is home to a number of different language collections, including Chinese, French, Tagalog, Hindi, Russian, and Tamil. This community centre and public library branch were built as part of a community action plan to revitalize the area in the early 2000s. The plan also included improvements to local parks and repairs to the many towers housing North St. James Town residents.
  7. Sean Martindale Mural and the St. James Town Community Corner
    215 Bleecker Street
    This monumental 32-storey mural - one of the tallest in the world - depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes and wrapping around the building to pay tribute to a previous fire in the building and promote a feeling of soaring and positivity. The mural shares a building with the St. James Town Community Corner, which first opened in 2011. The Corner is made up of accessible offices, meeting rooms, program spaces, and a community kitchen. It is the result of a partnership between local volunteer residents and service providers to increase access to community resources for St. James Town residents.
  8. St. James Town West Park
    589 Sherbourne Street
    Located just along Sherbourne Street, St. James Town West Park features paved routes through a green space circling around trees and gardens. The park was part of the Recipe for Community project to improve community spaces in the St. James Town neighbourhood. It resides at the site of a demolished building, and local residents worked with Evergreen to plant 49 species of native plants. This, in turn, has attracted a wide range of butterflies and birds that frequent the park. The park features a Butterfly Garden, Meadow Garden, and a Four Directions Garden, with circular designs based on the medicine wheel, arranged around the four cardinal compass points. A mural designed by local youth can also be found within the park. Titled Article 26 (from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights), it celebrates the right to education and depicts scenes of students and teachers in a natural setting.
  9. James Cooper House and Eldon Garnet's 'Inversion' Sculptures
    582 Sherbourne Street
    *Note: Private property. Please observe the buildings from the sidewalk only. Built in 1881, this house was the private residence of James Cooper, a partner in the footwear manufacturing firm Cooper and Smith. It was later acquired in 1910 by the Toronto Council of the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic fraternal and mutual aid organization. The house is heritage-designated property, and is an example of Second Empire style. It retains a number of its original features, including a mansard roof and rich detailing in wood and stone. A towering 33-storey condominium development is a new addition to the heritage building, with the original house still used for the condominium's amenities. The exterior of the house also features 'Inversion', a work of public art designed by Eldon Garnet. Comprising an array of statues depicting the urban wildlife of Toronto, the art installation expresses the desire to return a sense of nature to our environment, instead of building walls against it.
  10. Jim Bravo Mural
    26 Glen Road
    This mural depicts the area's ravine landscape prior to the development of the neighbourhood and acts as a contrast to the area's increasing density by celebrating the once simplistic and beautifully dense local natural settings.
  11. Shayona Panth Artbox
    Southeast corner of Howard Street and Rose Avenue
    The Bell Box Murals project has transformed utility cabinets into works of art. This piece depicts diverse faces surrounded by organic foliage.
  12. Jim Bravo Artbox
    Northeast corner of Wellesley Street East and Rose Avenue
    The Bell Box Murals project has transformed utility cabinets into works of art. This piece depicts muralists painting a colourful mural.

Accessibility information: This stroll takes place on paved streets and paths. All points of interest are viewable from the sidewalk. There is an incline when heading down Huntley Street to observe the 'Red Orange and Green' sculpture. At Wellesley-Magill Park, visitors must step over a brick border to access the park. There are no paths through this park, and the ground is a soft gravel surface. St. James Town West Park features paved paths throughout.

The StrollTO itineraries may follow routes that do not receive winter maintenance. Please review winter safety tips and for more information contact 311.

Soundtracks of the City

From global superstars to local favourites and ones to watch, the Soundtracks of the City playlists all feature artists who have called Toronto home. Whether it’s a lyric about the neighborhood, an artist representing a cultural community, or a tie-in to the StrollTO itinerary itself, all the music reflects connections to an individual ward or the City as a whole.

Music was chosen based on an artist’s Spotify presence and each song’s broad appeal, as well as its associations with the cultures, languages and ethnicities that reflect Toronto’s neighborhoods and diverse music scene. Soundtracks of the City combines 425 songs that feature more than 500 different local artists or acts, showcasing songs in 23 different languages.