The City of Orillia

Orillia's residential areas are historically and unofficially divided into what people call Wards. There are three Wards, plus downtown. Like many of the streets in Orillia, the Wards are named after points on the compass. This can be confusing to the newcomer because people constantly refer to these Wards in listings and real estate advertising, but you won't find them on any official map, so I've put one here.

It is human nature to rank areas as more or less desirable and house prices often reflect this. In fact, there is a good variety of homes and neighbourhoods in all parts of Orillia so you shouldn't limit your search to just one.

To the right is a map showing the approximate areas of the three Wards,

Borland Street

The core of the North Ward is around Peter St., Matchedash, Borland and North St., there you will see many grand old homes, most of which have been well maintained over the years. The areas east of Laclie St. and west of West St. (I told you this was confusing) were mostly developed later in the century. Fortunately, besides the grand mansions, there are many smaller, newer and more affordable homes mixed in every neighbourhood.

The waterfront streets, Bay St. and Maple Drive. (pictured at the top of this page) have some very expensive, prime waterfront properties. Interestingly, the waterfront was not considered a desirable place to live 100 years ago and there were railroad tracks beside Bay St. so most of the waterfront homes were built much later. The railroad tracks were torn up years ago and that land is now the Lightfoot Trail.

 The advantages of the North Ward, besides the mansions, are proximity to shopping, The Lightfoot Trail, and well-treed, established neighbourhoods. The main disadvantage is you'll pay 5% to 10% more for a home in this area than for a similar home in another part of the city.  

Regent Street

Much of South Ward is comprised of solid working-class neighbourhoods full of smaller frame homes, many built shortly after World War II.

Most of the streets are mature and well-treed, and many homes have huge back yards, an ideal environment for families with young children.
By the way, in real estate ads, the South Ward is usually referred to as "south Orillia".

Mary Street in the old west Ward

The eastern portion of the West Ward, close to downtown, has the older brick homes popular in the first part of the 20th century. As you travel west you see some 1940s and 50s "war houses", then newer and larger homes between Westmount Ave. and Hwy 11.

The old homes near downtown by and large were not built on the grand scale of some in the north ward. There are some fine ones, but a number have been made into multi-unit rental properties over the years.

These make good investment opportunities as this area has the distinct advantage of being close to Soldiers' Memorial Hospital as well as attractions in the the downtown core like the Farmers' Market.

War houses on Albany Ave. There are also many 1950s brick bungalows here.

Further west, the "war houses", built for soldiers returning home from WWII, are similar to ones found all over Canada. They were thought to be temporary at the time, to be torn down and replaced in ten years or so. More than 50 years later they are still standing, mainly serving young, first-time homeowners and retirees.

Esther Anne Street

Much of the south-west part of the ward was built in the 1950s & 60s by developer Hugh Grant. He named many of the streets after members of his family (Sandra, Esther Anne, etc.) There is quite a hill here and many homes have a marvelous view of the city. 

Brandon Crescent

Further north are newer neighbourhoods. Much of Grenville Ave. and Brandon Crescent were built in the 1980s, they are meduim-sized homes popular with young families.

Further north again is Toboggan Hill, built by Orillia's most active developer, Angelo Orsi. Later, he developed the area north of Coldwater Road near Hwy 11 (you'll see some homes there advertised as being in the North Ward) as well as Hawkridge - an exclusive area of fine homes surrounding a popular golf course.

Orillia is expanding westward along Hwy 12. 

The area west of Hwy 11 is known as Westridge, also being developed by Angelo Orsi. It is centred around a large shopping area featuring a Wal-Mart superstore, Home Depot and many others. It is also close to Orillia's newest industrial park, a new twin-pad arena and the new campus for Lakehead University, all currently under construction. The homes here range from affordable townhouses to large executive homes on ravine lots. It is very popular with young families.