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The Bridle Path is an upscale residential neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that is characterized by large multi-million dollar mansions and two to four acre (8,000 to 16,000 m²) lot sizes. It is often referred to as "Millionaires' Row".
Although "The Bridle Path" is in fact the name of a road in the area, the term generally applies to the surrounding neighbourhood as a whole. It is generally bounded by The Bridle Path on the north, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre on the south, Bayview Avenue on the west and Leslie Street on the east. Few roads pass through the area, contributing to the area's exclusivity. House prices in the Bridle Path are varied, but most of the houses in this area sell for well in excess of a million dollars. It is a secluded neighbourhood, surrounded by the Don River Valley and lush parklands.
The Bridle Path was little more than farmland until 1929, when the Bayview Bridge was constructed across the steep (West Branch) Don River Valley. It was at that point that the area was first considered for residential development. Hubert Page, a Toronto-based land developer, envisioned the Bridle Path as an "exclusive enclave of estate homes" and he built the neighbourhood's first home, a Cape Cod Colonial style home at 2 The Bridle Path in order to spark interest in the development.
The street's name is frequently misspelled as "The Bridal Path" by those who are unfamiliar with the history of the area. The actual "Bridle Path" name came about as early plans for the neighbourhood included an elaborate system of equestrian bridle paths. While the paths have since been paved over, their legacy remains in the Bridle Path's wide streets and in the name of this elite community.
The Bridle Path has been home to media moguls Moses Znaimer and Conrad Black. Prince was said to have purchased a home in the Bridle Path for $5.5 million, although his recent divorce and concert tour rigours have meant few sightings of him. A home located in this area was used in the movie Mean Girls as Regina George's house.
Those whose wealth has been passed from one generation to the next might deride this district’s residents as nouveau, but that doesn’t negate the fact that they are also very riche. Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills includes, as the hyphenated name suggests, the Bridle Path, one of Toronto’s most exclusive neighbourhoods and home to what is often referred to as Millionaires Row.
But millionaires are relatively new to the area: the area was the site of woolen and saw mills in the early 1800s, and then farmland until 1929, when the Bayview Bridge was built over the Don River Valley. It was then that Toronto developer Hubert Page launched the residential development that would become the Bridle Path. Early plans included an elaborate system of equestrian paths, long since abandoned but whose memory lives on in the district’s name. Today, multi-million dollar mansions are not uncommon.
In the northwestern section of this district sits York Mills, on the hills of York Mills sloping south toward the Rosedale Golf Club. No one can claim that a developer imposed a uniform style on these winding streets: but for a few standard 1950s bungalows, York Mills offers a bizarre, eye-popping anthology of styles—a Spanish hacienda standing next to a Tudor mansion, a French provincial stone house confronting a modernist manor made of cubes.
Here you can find the most spectacular houses in Toronto. Area amenities include the upscale York Mills Shopping Centre, the Granite Club and York University’s Glendon Campus.
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