Lawrence Heights is situated on the old Mulholland farm.

Henry Mulholland was one of North York's first pioneers settling in this area in 1814. Mulholland's heirs remained to live on the family farm until the 1940's when it was sold to developers.

In the early 1950's Lawrence Heights was converted from farmland into one of Toronto's largest public housing developments.

John Sewell in The Shape of the City writes that Lawrence Heights was originally scheduled to include high-rise apartment towers. This was before Jack Brown a government official and former World War II pilot, took a surveillance flight over the project site, and recognized that Lawrence Heights was to close to the Downsview Airport to permit high-rise apartments within this development.

The adjusted plan incorporated the row-houses and low-rise buildings that comprise the present day neighbourhood.