About

The Cabbagetown Preservation Association was Founded in 1989 to preserve the architectural integrity and historic character of the Cabbagetown neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Cabbagetown is one of the largest areas of continuous, preserved Victorian housing in North America.

The name "Cabbagetown" was an epithet used by Toronto's prosperous British residents who were offended by the use of front gardens to grow cabbages and other vegetables by the hundreds of Irish families who had fled famine in the 1840s and found these streets to be their final destination. A mix of prosperous streets, middle class houses and workers enclaves, the area slid into decline well before the Depression. "Cabbagetown" was synonymous for "slum" until the 1970s and 80s when the large stock of decayed but largely untouched Victorian housing was discovered by inner city pioneers and gradually restored as a coherent neighbourhood. Now a village of neighbours within the city, Cabbagetown is a physically beautiful, culturally active mixed-income community. A walk through the district yields surprise streets up unlikely alleys, converted workshops and tiny workers cottages sharing streets with grand homes. Much of the area has been designated a Heritage Conservation District with the benefits and responsibilities that carries.The old epiteth having become the name of a desired neighbourhood, many Cabbagetowners proudly display the Cabbagetown flag, a variation on the Canadian flag, in green; the maple leaf replaced by a cabbage.

Painting of Carlton Street by Lisa Crouch  lcrouch@sympatico.ca

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