Lifestyle
The Annex’s main shopping district is on Bloor Street. This stretch of stores includes a hodgepodge of clothing boutiques, coffee ships, food markets, restaurants, and live entertainment venues.
The revamped Mirvish Village shopping district on Markham Street, south of Bloor Street, is a quaint collection of one-of-a-kind specialty stores.
Mirvish Village, south of Bloor Street just west of Bathurst features consists of 24 restored heritage buildings, whose tenants include unique restaurants and shops. Part of the experience in this shopping village is The Kitchen which is funky urban space consisting of a food hall and music venue.
Homes
The Annex houses, built between 1880 and 1910 are fine examples of Victorian, Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque architectural styles. Plum and pink colored Credit River sandstone, rich red brick, and terra cotta clay tiles, make up the exterior facades of many of these homes.
The architectural detail is among the finest in the city, ranging from pyramidal roofs and turrets to recessed grand archways and wooden spindled porches.
A second wave of Annex homes dates from 1910 to 1930. These homes are less elaborate than their predecessors, but are nonetheless fine examples of English Cottage, Georgian and Tudor style architecture.