Aerial view of suburban houses
Elmhurst Drive, Kipling Heights, Rexdale
ca. 1970
City of Toronto Archives
Series 497, Subseries 5, File 10

 

In the 1950s, postwar immigration combined with the “baby boom” to dramatically increase Metropolitan Toronto’s population, creating a demand for new housing. Federal legislation made it easier for developers to build houses and for home-owners to buy them.

 

Sketch and floor plan of small two-bedroom house with small front porch
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation Sketch Designs for Housing
1948
City of Toronto Archives
Series 361, Subseries 1, File 482

 

It was now economically viable for developers to build on a much grander scale, creating entire subdivisions rather than just a few homes for resale. The increase in automobile use allowed for the construction of new housing further and further afield in the suburban reaches of Metropolitan Toronto. Not since the era before World War I had building activity in the suburbs been so rampant, as the private sector subdivided and developed them at a prodigious rate.

 

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