Church Wellesley Village is a comfortable and supportive community that offers the feel of a small town within the city. The stretch of Church from Carlton to Bloor is home to a thriving mix of restaurants, cafes and clothing stores. It's also also a historic community with Victorian houses and apartments that date back to the late 19th and early 20th century.
The History of Church Wellesley Village
The portion of the neighbourhood bounded by Yonge, Jarvis, Maitland and Carlton Streets was once the estate of Alexander Wood, a merchant and magistrate in Upper Canada who was at the centre of a strange, supposedly sexually related scandal in 1810. His lands were derisively known as "Molly Wood's Bush" in the early nineteenth century — "molly" being a contemporaneous slang term for "homosexual". In the spring of 2005, a statue of Wood was erected at the corner of Church and Alexander Streets (the latter named for Wood), honouring him as a forefather of Toronto's modern gay community.
Church Street and the area around it has been familiar to the Toronto gay community for many decades. Prior to the 1970s there had been an underground (mostly male) gay scene centred on various bathhouses and bars around the city that were not exclusively gay establishments, but were known to be frequented by homosexuals. Allan Gardens, just east of Church Street on Carlton, was a well-known cruising area for gay men.
From the late 1960s through the early 1980s the focus of Toronto's gay subculture was the Yonge and Wellesley area. During the 1970s, the St. Charles in particular was the focus of many attacks by homophobes, especially on Halloween when the tavern held an annual drag contest that had been proceeded by an outdoor promenade until attacks by homophobes hurling eggs and rotten fruit made that impossible. There were a number of gay-oriented businesses and clubs on the side streets running west off of Yonge street around Wellesley, in particular St. Nicholas Street, a laneway running behind the west side of Yonge, and St. Joseph Street, one block north of Wellesley running west off Yonge.
Church Street, one block east of Yonge, had been a depressed area with low rents and started to become a predominantly gay area as gay owned bars and other businesses started opening up as an alternative to the straight owned Parkside and St. Charles Taverns whose owners were accused of being hostile of their gay clientele.
The centre of the gay life in Toronto shifted to Church Street following the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids, an event that galvanized the gay and lesbian community in the city. George Hislop, a gay businessman and co-owner of one of the raided bathhouses, ran for Toronto City Council with his campaign headquarters located at Church and Wellesley.
In the 1980s, the 519 Church Street Community Centre became the meeting place for numerous social and political groups and became well known as an LGBT friendly space. A strip of gay bars opened along the street and many LGBT people rented apartments, joined residential co-ops or bought condos close to Church. The area became known as a friendly environment where people could be open about their sexual orientation.
Uncertain future
As times have changed and Toronto public has become more open to homosexuality, the role of Church and Wellesley as a "sanctuary" for LGBT people has been debated in recent years. Many bars and clubs throughout Toronto are now gay-friendly.
Rental rates for both commercial and residential property have also risen significantly. In the 2000s, many privately owned businesses have been forced to close down or move to other areas due to these rent increases, and much larger corporations have settled on the street in their place. Many smaller gay-owned businesses have moved to cheaper areas such as Cabbagetown, located east of Church and Wellesley.
The residents of the area are now largely middle-aged men with established careers, as the high rents and increasing density of condominium development mean that the majority of gay youth cannot afford to live in the neighbourhood. Some choose to settle in nearby neighbourhoods such as St. James Town and Cabbagetown, while others no longer feel it necessary to live near the village as they can be open about their sexuality without as much fear of backlash. Many in the gay community have expressed concern about the decline of the neighbourhood's appeal with youth and its loss of small businesses. Other downtown neighbourhoods much farther afield from Church and Wellesley, including Parkdale, Trinity-Bellwoods, Riverdale and Leslieville, are also now popular areas for LGBT residents.
Pride Toronto
Pride Toronto is an annual event held in Toronto in June each year. A celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area, it is one of the largest organized gay pride festivals in the world, featuring several stages with live performers and DJs, several licensed venues, a large Dyke March, a Trans March and the Pride Parade. The centre of the festival is the city's Church and Wellesley village, while the parade and marches are primarily routed along the nearby Yonge Street, Gerrard Street and Bloor Street. In 2014, the event served as the fourth international WorldPride, and was much larger than standard Toronto Prides.
For most of its history, Pride was a seven-to-ten day festival centred on the final week in June, with the parade falling on either the last weekend in June or the first weekend in July depending on the year's circumstances. Since 2016, the entire month of June has been declared Pride month, with a program of events throughout the month leading up to the parade.
Church-Wellesley Village Real Estate
While many will say that Church and Wellesley has become unaffordable for renters, the truth is that the neighbourhood's rental rates are now on par with the downtown average, which is mostly very expensive. Due to the charm and popularity of this neighbourhood, demand is pushing rents even higher and has had a hand in forcing out some independent businesses, which haven't been able to pay the bills.
Condos, apartments and still quite a few charming Victorian houses make up the areas housing.
Looking for the best of Church Wellesley?
Parks
Schools
Please click here for a comprehensive list of schools in Church Wellesley Village.
Restaurants
Coach House Restaurant: This narrow, wood-paneled diner offers a menu of classic comfort food, including all-day breakfasts.
Sambucas: Casual, contemporary Italian restaurant with pizza, classic entrees and a fixed-price option.
Smith: Chic and comfortable French restaurant with a brunch menu, creative cocktails and unique style.
Cafés
The Croissant Tree: Warm, cozy café offering croissants, coffee & sandwiches for breakfast and lunch, plus outdoor seats.
Third Wave Coffee Inc.: Café set in a soaring space with a colourful mural, offering ethically sourced espresso and pastries.
Bulldog Coffee: Counter service ordering of classic coffee drinks with elaborate latte art, pastries, & café fare.