King Street (Toronto)

Encyclopedia : K : KI : KIN : King Street (Toronto)

King Street and its intersection with Bay Street, the core of the Financial Business District of Toronto.

This article is about the street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For other articles with the name King Street, see King Street.

King Street is a major east-west commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street was named for King George III, the reigning British monarch at the time when the street was being built in early Toronto (then called the Town of York).

It runs from The Queensway, splitting off to the south-east from Queen Street West at Roncesvalles Avenue in the west, to the Don River where is merges and is absorbed by Queen St. in the east.

King Street is also spanned (alongs its entirety) by the streetcar or tram line, The Toronto Transit Commission's 504 Streetcar, the busiest line in the fleet with an average of 50,000 passengers per day.

The run does not start or end on King, rather it originates from the Bloor-Danforth Subway line at Dundas West (west), runs south on Roncevalles to King, on the other end it moves up Broadview Ave. to the Broadview Station (east). Roughly in the middle of the route with the Financial District squeezed in between, it connects with the Yonge-University-Spadina Subway line at the St. Andrew Station at University Avenue, or King Station at Yonge Street.

Popular attractions along King Street include:

Roy Thomson Hall
St. James' Cathedral (Toronto) (Anglican Church)
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Canada's Walk of Fame
Princess of Wales Theatre - owned by theatre giant Ed and David Mirvish
Royal Alexandra Theatre - owned by theatre giant Ed and David Mirvish
Toronto Sun
[Le Meridian King Edward Hotel]

Office towers on King:

Toronto Stock Exchange
Toronto-Dominion Centre
First Canadian Place
BCE Place
Commerce Court, including the historic Commerce Court North

Neighbourhoods

Parkdale (at Dunn)
Liberty Village (at Dufferin)
Trinity Niagara (at Bathurst)
Entertainment District (at John)
Fashion District (at Spadina)
Financial District (at Bay)
St. Lawrence (not actually on King but south of King at Jarvis)
Old Town of York (at Parliament)
Corktown (at Cherry)

Recently there have been a number of restaurants and clubs opening as King Street becomes more oriented to Toronto's nightlife crowd, and is near major attractions such as the Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome), Air Canada Centre, The Distillery District, Hockey Hall of Fame, Hummingbird Centre, and St. Lawrence Market.

King Street (Toronto)

See also