Toronto’s Mirvish Village was born in the 1960s from a failed attempt to build a parking lot for Honest Ed’s, the discount department store that once stood at the corner of Bloor and Bathurst streets. Seeking more space for his customers’ cars, “Honest” owner Ed Mirvish bought up the block of Victorians next to his sprawling marketplace — only for the city to intervene and block his demolition plans. Mirvish’s wife, Anne, suggested that Ed use his newly acquired real estate to establish a kind of artistic compound instead. Anne herself kicked things off, moving her sculpture studio into 581 Markham Street. Lured by low rents, other artists quickly followed suit, joined by a bohemian assortment of retailers and bars, and later, a gallery and art book store run by the Mirvishes’ son, David. Instead of being turned into pavement, the site became a creative paradise. (All this and more is chronicled in a great CBC documentary about the area’s history.)
A modern mixed-use urban development with high-rise buildings, rooftop greenery, and historic brick structures along a busy street under a partly cloudy sky.

In 2013, with many of Mirvish Village’s buildings looking a little worse for wear, David sold his family’s swath of land to the developer Westbank. In the years that followed, Honest Ed’s closed up shop and the Toronto landmark was torn down; over the past decade, it’s been replaced by a series of mid- and high-rise apartment towers designed by Henriquez Partners Architects with Diamond Schmitt. (In 2022, the mixed-use redevelopment won an AZ Award for Best Urban Design Vision.) The full scope of the project extended to the former store’s neighbouring Victorians, too, which (thankfully) dodged demolition a second time, instead undergoing extensive interior renovations and sensitive facade restorations.