Kensington Market Homes for sale & Condos Toronto

What would Colonel George Taylor Denison make of it all? The man who built his home on his wooded 156-acre lot in 1815 could never have imagined the cheerfully chaotic, colourful community that is Kensington Market today. It would be difficult enough for him to picture his driveway as a city street with his name (Denison Avenue, the neighbourhood’s western boundary) — or another named for his house: Bellevue Avenue.

The Denison family legacy includes St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Anglican Church, which they commissioned and funded in 1858, when the church already had a community to serve. Four years earlier, parts of the Denison estate had been subdivided — the lots purchased by the first of several waves of immigration that would shape the neighbourhood.

The English, Scots and Irish skilled tradesmen and labourers who built homes here left their own mark in street names as British as fish-and-chips – Baldwin and Oxford Streets, Kensington and Wales Avenues, and others.

Next to arrive, in the early 1900s, were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, many of them merchants. Starting out selling door-to-door from handcarts, they later began selling from their carts in front of their homes... and Kensington Market was born. Soon after, the ground floors of Kensington Market homes were being extended and turned into store fronts.

Since then, each successive arrival of immigrants has influenced the evolution of Kensington Market — from Portugal in the 1950s, from the Caribbean in the late 60s, and more recently from South and Central America, Viet Nam and China.

In 2008, a 100-year contribution to the life of the city was recognized when Canada’s only year ‘round market was designated a National Historic Site by the federal government.

The majority of homes in this culturally diverse neighbourhood are decoratively-accented Victorian style, small to mid-size, 1870 – 1890 vintage — many with market stalls in front. Newer homes include condominiums at Kensington Market Lofts, 21 Nassau Street and 160 Baldwin Street... and “New Victorian” town homes on Oxford Street. One of a number of predictions for the future is that some of the Market’s narrow alleys will be restored as pedestrian mews.

For residents of Kensington Market homes, if the market doesn’t have it, there’s handy access to the stores of Portugal Village, Little Italy, Chinatown, or the fashionable shops of Queen Street West. Streetcar service is excellent, and Toronto’s downtown shopping, dining and entertainment is a quick connect for motorists via the Gardiner Expressway.

For current information on available listings for Kensington Market homes and real estate, please see the column at the right of this page. Listings are updated daily, so we recommend that you bookmark this page and check back frequently.