Character
Lansdowne Avenue starts at Queen Street as a four-lane road in the Parkdale neighbourhood. In the 2000s, the section from Queen to the CN/CPR tracks was narrowed for street calming. Both sides of the street are residential with some institutional uses, including a fire station, a park and a Community Centre. Starting at the rail tracks underpass the roadway widens to four lanes. On the west side is a former cash register factory, which was converted to a Knob Hill Farms store until it went out of business in 2000. The building was mostly demolished, leaving only the eastern facade, and a large 'No Frills' supermarket was built in its place which it remains today. On the east side are more semi-detached homes. The east side of the street is within the Little Portugal neighbourhood.
North of College Street, the street narrows again for street calming to three lanes until Bloor Street West. This stretch is completely residential on the east side, with West Toronto Collegiate on the west side, a large high school. This area is within the Dufferin Grove neighbourhood. The Bloor Street stretch here is known as 'Bloordale Village.'
North of Bloor Street, the street is four lanes with parking, and is mixed uses of residential and retail storefronts until north of Lappin Avenue, and the cross-town CPR tracks, where a large former industrial area exists. The buildings along this stretch have been converted to loft-style buildings up to Davenport Road. This area is known as Dovercourt-Wallace Emerson-Junction.
North of Davenport, Lansdowne climbs a steep hill, which was the former Lake Iroquois shoreline. Along the west side is Earlscourt Park, and the roadway curves around and alongside the Park. From here north to St. Clair, both sides of the street are residential.
The main section of the street ends in the Corso Italia neighbourhood at St. Clair Avenue West, a major east-west thoroughfare. Across the intersection is Prospect Cemetery.
In the block between Eglinton and Lawrence, there are two small, disconnected sections of Lansdowne which are roughly in line with the southern alignment of the street. The southernmost of these two sections (from Wingold Avenue to Glengrove Avenue) is also mixed residential and industrial, while the northernmost of the two sections (Glenlong Avenue to Playfair Avenue) is only one block long, and completely residential.
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