Discover Parkway Forest

Parkway West has a distinct architectural profile: a variety of house designs meet a street layout that adapts to the ravine. The settlement’s history and individual building projects reveal different facets of this development.

Settlement history since 1957

Don Mills Developments launched Parkway West as a distinct subdivision in 1957. In the spring of that year, Nisco Construction put 14 houses in five different styles on the market there. Parkway West was a traditional suburban community for the middle to upper-middle professional and management class. The Donalda Club was listed as one of Parkway West’s amenities.

Architecture and individual designs

Alvarado Place is a group of houses in Parkway West, Don Mills, Ontario. A 1961 description names J. A. Murray as the designer and Geo. Slightham Ltd. as the builder. At another small group of houses in Parkway West, builder Roy P. Rogers Enterprises and architects James A. Murray and Henry Fliess tackled an unusual and difficult site-adaptation challenge. The architecture of the houses offered by Nisco Construction is considered conservative, moderate modernism; attached carports or garages were a defining feature of all Nisco house models. The Yarmon Residence at 12 Spinney Court is a notable example. Henry Fliess designed the house on commission from its owner. Toronto architect Norman R. Stone is also associated with the design of the “Executive.”

Streetscape and landscape

A small group of houses overlooks a ravine and is accessed by a loop road with a hairpin turn. Parkway West’s road network extends south and west to the edges of the Don River ravine. The Donalda Club’s golf courses gave way to naturalistic parks and tree belts with mature trees. Parkway West lies southwest of York Mills Road and the Don Valley Parkway. There, the broad boulevards Laurentide Drive and Three Valleys Drive connect a network of curving residential streets and cul-de-sacs. The location provides a general geographic orientation; the named boulevards help place the residential street network more precisely.

The surrounding area

Near the destination, the Donalda Club is located in a deeply cut valley through whose center a meandering river flows. The two landscape features should be distinguished geographically: the club’s surroundings are shaped by the deep valley and meandering river, while Parkway West’s road network extends south and west to the edges of the Don River ravine. The club offers its members’ guests golf, tennis, and shared dinners for the extended family; access to these amenities requires being accompanied by a member.

Discover more destinations: Eringate, Rexdale, Scarborough.

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