South Richvale, Bayview Hill or Mill Pond?

A couple came to us last spring having decided on Richmond Hill and nothing else. They had driven South Richvale on a Sunday, Bayview Hill on a weekday evening and Mill Pond on a Saturday morning, and they had liked all three for different reasons, which is the usual problem. These are the three neighbourhoods where Richmond Hill’s estate-scale homes concentrate, and they are more different than they look from the car. Here is how we walk buyers through the choice.

The three, briefly

South Richvale lies between Yonge Street and Bathurst Street, from Highway 7 north to Carrville Road. It is the oldest of the three as an estate area, laid out in the post-war decades on large, irregular lots along the ravines of the Don’s upper branches, and it is the one closest to Toronto.

Bayview Hill sits east of Yonge, between Bayview Avenue and Leslie Street, from 16th Avenue north to Major Mackenzie Drive. It was planned and built as an estate subdivision from the late 1980s through the 1990s, with wide regular lots and houses of a consistent generation.

Mill Pond is west of Yonge around the historic pond and park at Mill Street, at the edge of the old village core. Its lots are deep and treed, its houses span every era from the nineteenth century to last year, and it is the only one of the three with a main street at walking distance.

Lot character

This is where the differences begin. South Richvale’s lots were severed from farms and estates over decades, so they are irregular in shape and size, often deep and sometimes very large, and many back onto or fall into ravine. The ravine is the asset and the constraint: it gives privacy and views, and it brings the conservation authority into any plan to build. A buyer who wants a lot that feels like a piece of countryside within sight of the city looks here first.

Bayview Hill’s lots were drawn on a plan. They are wide by any suburban standard and regular in shape, with uniform setbacks and few of the surprises a survey turns up in older areas. There are no ravines to speak of, so there are no conservation setbacks and no views to pay for, and a rebuild is a matter of zoning rather than slope. The trees are now thirty years old and the streets have matured accordingly.

Mill Pond’s lots are the most varied. Near Yonge they are village lots, modest in width; moving west along Mill Street and the roads around it they deepen into estate-scale properties with old trees and, in places, a creek or a dip in the land. The irregularity is part of the appeal, and so is the age of the planting.

House eras

South Richvale began as bungalows, sidesplits and ranch houses in the 1950s and 1960s, and a good number survive, often on the best lots, held by long-term owners. Around and among them are the rebuilds of every subsequent decade, from 1980s colonials to the modern and farmhouse-modern houses of the last few years. The streetscape is mixed, and a buyer should expect a brand-new house next to an original bungalow.

Bayview Hill is of one generation. The houses were built from the late 1980s through the 1990s, mostly in brick and stone with the two-storey foyers and formal plans of the period, and most have been renovated at least once. Replacement is rarer than in the other two because the houses are large and the structure is usually sound; the typical sale is a thoroughly updated original.

Mill Pond spans everything. Nineteenth-century houses near the village, early twentieth-century cottages, mid-century houses on the deeper lots and a steady run of custom rebuilds. Heritage designation applies to some properties near the core, which a buyer should check before planning changes.

Who each suits

South Richvale suits the buyer who wants land and ravine first and is willing to take on the variety and, often, a building project to get them. It attracts people moving north from Toronto’s ravine neighbourhoods who want the same thing with more of it, and builders looking for the next lot.

Bayview Hill suits the buyer who wants a large, well-built house on a wide lot with as little uncertainty as possible: a known quantity, a consistent street and a resale market deep enough to read. It has long appealed to families, and to buyers who prefer to renovate rather than rebuild.

Mill Pond suits the buyer for whom the walk matters: to the pond, to coffee on Yonge, to the performing arts centre and the heritage centre, to dinner. It attracts people who have lived in walkable neighbourhoods before and do not want to give that up for a larger lot, and it rewards them with both.

Commute

South Richvale is the closest to the city. Highway 7 and Highway 407 are at its southern edge, Langstaff GO on the Richmond Hill line is minutes away, and the planned extension of the Yonge subway north toward Richmond Hill Centre will, when it opens, make it the best-connected of the three by rail. Bayview Hill is a short drive to Highway 404 at 16th Avenue or Major Mackenzie, which gives a fast run south to the 401 and east along the 407. Mill Pond relies on Yonge Street and Major Mackenzie to reach Highway 404 or Highway 400, and Richmond Hill GO is a few minutes east. None of the three is a long way from anything, and the differences are a matter of ten or fifteen minutes.

Schools, in general terms

All three neighbourhoods are served by the York Region District School Board and the York Catholic District School Board, with well-regarded elementary and secondary schools in or near each. Bayview Hill is often chosen with its secondary school’s International Baccalaureate programme in mind, and South Richvale and Mill Pond have a mix of public, Catholic and nearby private options. School boundaries change, so buyers should confirm designated schools with the board before settling on a street.

What each is known for

South Richvale is known for ravine lots and for the quality of its newest custom houses, which include some of the most ambitious residential architecture in York Region. Bayview Hill is known for consistency, wide lots and the community centre and school at its heart. Mill Pond is known for the pond itself, the heritage streets around it and the rare combination of estate lots and a village within a single walk.

Deciding

We ask buyers three questions. Do you want a ravine, and will you accept what comes with it? Do you want to build, renovate or move in? And how much does a walk to a café matter against another quarter-acre? The answers usually point to one neighbourhood, and the couple from last spring, who said ravine, renovate and not much, are now in South Richvale.

If you are at the same stage, tell us what you are looking for and we will send matches in all three neighbourhoods, including homes that never reach the portals, and walk the streets with you until the choice is clear.