St. James Town

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Coordinates: 43°40′9″N 79°22′22″W / 43.66917, -79.37278

St. James Town viewed from atop the Winnipeg tower
St. James Town viewed from atop the Winnipeg tower

St. James Town (sometimes spelled St. Jamestown) is a neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is often confused with the Jamestown housing projects in Rexdale.

It lies in the northeast corner of the downtown area. The neighbourhood covers the area bounded by Sherbourne Street to the west; Howard Street to the north; Parliament Street to the east; and Wellesley Street East to the south.

St. James Town is the largest high-rise housing project community in Canada. It consists of 19 or more high-rise buildings (14 to 32 stories). These massive residential towers were built in the 1960s. Approximately 17,000 people live in the neighbourhood's 19 apartment towers, making it Canada's most densely populated community.[1]

The population is 73% non-white, causing some to call St. James Town "the world within a block." It's also one of Toronto's poorest neighbourhoods. [2]

Contents

[edit] History

St. James Town began to grow in the 19th century when it became a semi-suburban area home to the city's middle class. The area was rezoned in the 1950s as the nineteenth century homes were levelled, and apartment towers — inspired by Le Corbusier's Towers in the Park concept — were erected. Each tower accommodated thousands of residents surrounded by green space, but with few amenities. Each of the buildings is named after a major Canadian city.

In the late 1960s, the developers attempted to acquire land south of Wellesley, as far as Carlton Street, to expand the St. James Town development. Many residents of the area resisted, with the support of civic activist and future Mayor of Toronto John Sewell. The St. James Town expansion was cancelled, and the homes that had been demolished were replaced with several housing cooperatives.

St. James Town Library and Community Centre
St. James Town Library and Community Centre

St. James Town was originally designed to house young "swinging single" middle class residents, but the apartments lacked appeal and the area quickly became much poorer. 4 buildings were built by the province as public housing. Today, the towers are mostly home to newly-arrived immigrant families.

In 1996, the City of Toronto launched a major initiative to improve the area, including the construction of a new Toronto Public Library branch and community centre, which opened in 2004 at the corner of Sherbourne and Wellesley.

[edit] Demographics

Due to its cultural and minority demographics, St. James Town is often thought as "the world within a block". It is mostly a so-called minority community, largely filled with immigrants — especially those who arrived in the 1990s. St. James Town is 73% non-white. The largest cultural groups in this community are Filipinos (making up 21.9% of the population [1]), Black (11.2%[2]), Chinese (8%[3]), Sri Lankans (7.8% [4]), and Italian (1% [5]). Other cultural groups include East Africans and Chinese. Overall, St. James Town's population is made up of approximately 65% recent immigrants [6].

[edit] See also

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Garden District

[edit] References

  1. ^ Based on 2001 Canadian census data.
  2. ^ Based on 2001 Canadian census data.
  3. ^ Based on 2001 Canadian census data.
  4. ^ Based on 2001 Canadian census data.
  5. ^ Based on 2001 Canadian census data.
  6. ^ Based on 2001 Canadian census data.