Yonge Street

- Downtown, Midtown, Yonge-Dundas Square, Aura, One Bloor, Toronto Reference Library, Comfort Hotel


Yonge Street is the leading street of Toronto, going from the financial district and harbour in the south to the northernmost suburbs. The most central part, where we stayed, at Comfort Hotel Downtown, is a hip entertainment district with somewhat neglect townhouses, cheap restaurants, drug stores (cannabis etc!), fastfood chains, hotels, department stores and super luxurious residential skyscrapers (in the middle of that!). A bit further to the South you will find fancy brand stores, and to the North it is more residential in its character (actually Yonge St changes character lots of times), and passes the posh Yorkville neighbourhood. Even further south, it is an ultramodern shopping and business district with some of Toronto's tallest skyscrapers.Yonge St was the world's longest road according to Guiness Book of Records, but was a conflation; it's extension is not counted part of Yonge St, so it is actually 86km long and not 1896km, but still enough to pass through the whole Toronto including suburbs, in South-North direction.

The most central part is the Yonge-Dundas Square, at the intersection of these two streets. Dundas Square is an ultramodern square with neon lights, ads, crowded restaurants, department stores, entertainment - the closest you come to Times Square in New York, or Shibuya in Tokyo. Especially after dark, this place look impressive. Eaton Centre, Toronto's foremost shopping mall, also has an entrance at Yonge St, right at the square.

At Yonge St and Asquith Ave you find the Toronto Reference Library, built in 1977 and designed by Raymond Moriyama. It is the biggest public reference library in Canada, and might not look so special from the outside with its boxy facade, but once you get inside you will find a large light 5-storey atrium and a pond. One might think you have just entered a luxury hotel. There is also a special Arthur Conan Doyle Room, dedicated to the author of Sherlock Holmes, complete with books and a room that is furnished to look like the author's writing room. The room be a bit hard to find, situated behind glass on the upper floor. In the library, there are also music instruments that can be borrowed!

Not until the recent years there have been many skyscrapers built along Yonge Street. The most significant skyscrapers along Yonge St are Aura, a mixed-use, 78-storey, 272m tall skyscraper from 2014 with its own shopping galleria.
One Bloor, a 76-storey, 257m tall glass scraper with curved balconies, almost completed during our visit in 2016. It is situated right next to our hotel, at Yonge, Bloor and Charles streets. These two are the tallest residential towers in Toronto. In the southermost part of Yonge St, you will since 2015 find the L Tower, a curved 58-storey condo glass building designed by Daniel Liebeskind, right next to the Sony Centre for Performing Arts.

Our hotel was the Comfort Hotel Downtown, a 3-star hotel with 11 floors and 113 rooms. It is centrally situated at the intersection of Yonge St and Charles St. The interor was simple with 70s interior (that was under refurbishment during our visit, the restaurant was also closed for renovation) but has an excellent location, large rooms with wonderful beds and nice views, AC, nice staff, and nice free breakfast with waffels. The largest con was the size of the breakfast room; there was not enough seats for all the guests! But overall a valuable place to stay.

This page is mainly focused on the small part from Dundas Square to Charles St, since this is where we strolled every day, and is the most central part of this extremely long street.

Yonge Street - mixed stores and restaurants Yonge Street - near our hotel at Charles St Comfort Hotel Downtown, our hotel at Yonge St/Charles St Yonge Street 19 Yonge Street 20 Yonge Street 2 - One Bloor, 257m, 76 floors, completed 2016 Yonge Street 22 - towards Aura Yonge Street 23 Yonge Street 24 - side street Yonge Street 25 Yonge Street 26 Yonge Street 27 - another new skyscraper (St Joseph St) Yonge Street 28 Yonge Street 01 - public bus Yonge Street 02 - arch Yonge Street/Elm Street Yonge Street 04 - H&M, Eaton Centre near Dundas sQuare Yonge Street 06 Yonge Street 07 - One Bloor, 257m, 76 floors, completed 2016 Yonge Street 08 - One Bloor, 257m, 76 floors, completed 2016 Yonge Street 09 Yonge Street 10 Yonge Street 11 Yonge Street 12 - Charles St W Yonge Street/Charles St Yonge Street 14 Yonge Street - Charles St E Yonge Street - School bus at Charles St E Yonge Street 29 Yonge Street 30 Yonge Street 31 Yonge Street 32 - towards First Canada Place Yonge Street 33 - there is a subway beneath the clock tower Yonge Street 34 Yonge Street 35 Yonge Street 36 - the Big Bus double deckers pass along Yonge St Yonge Street 37 Yonge Street 38 Yonge Street 39 Yonge Street 40 Yonge Street 41 Yonge Street 42 Yonge Street 43 Yonge Street 44 Yonge Street 45 Yonge Street 46 Yonge Street 54 - Aura, 78-storey skyscraper completed 2014 Yonge Street 47 - The Shops at Aura Yonge Street 48 - Aura, 78-storey skyscraper completed 2014 Yonge Street 49 Yonge Street 50 - Gerrard St Yonge Street 51 Yonge Street 52 Yonge Street 53 Yonge Street 55 Yonge Street 56 Yonge Street 57 - Zanzibar nightclub Yonge Street 58 Yonge Street 59 - Ryerson University Yonge Street 60 - Ryerson University Yonge Street 61 - Aura at College Park and Ryerson University Yonge Street 62 - Aura at College Park and Ryerson University Yonge Street 63 - Ryerson University Yonge Street 64 - near Dundas Square Yonge Street 65 Yonge Street 66 - beginning of the Financial District Yonge Street 66b Yonge Street 67 - Eaton Centre, entrance Yonge Street 68 - Eaton Centre Yonge Street 69 Yonge Street 70 Yonge Street 71 Yonge Street 72 Yonge Street 87 - Hudson Bay department store, Manulife Centre Yonge Street 88 - Mr. Sub Toronto Reference Library, seen from Yonge St Toronto Reference Library, built 1977, designed by Raymond Moriyama Toronto Reference Library - pond Toronto Reference Library 102 - atrium Toronto Reference Library 103 Toronto Reference Library 104 Toronto Reference Library 105 Toronto Reference Library 106 Toronto Reference Library 107 Toronto Reference Library - Sherlock Holmes room Toronto Reference Library - Sherlock Holmes room Toronto Reference Library - Sherlock Holmes room Toronto Reference Library - Sherlock Holmes room Toronto Reference Library 112 View towards Rosedale Park from the library Yonge-Dundas Square towards Yonge St Yonge St subway station at Dundas Square Toronto Bus Tour 013 - Yonge St Hockey Hall of Fame at Yonge St/Front St L Tower, 57 floors, built 2015 along the southernmost part of Yonge St. Views from CN Tower - Yonge St is between these tallest skycrapers in this picture. Toronto by night 29 - Yonge St Toronto by night 31 - Yonge St Toronto by night 35 - Yonge St