Many Europeans families moving to Canada in the 1790’s first settled in the Annex. This area slowly started to grow and in the 1870’s, the Annex was subdivided. By the 1880’s, the Annex had become a neighbourhood for some of Toronto’s most elite and wealthy families. It was a beautiful area of Toronto that prospered under the elite and it was full of large Victorian and Edwardian style homes.

In the 1920’s however, many of the wealthy Toronto families that once lived in the Annex began to move into the newly popular northern areas of Toronto namely Forest Hill and Lawrence Park. As these wealthy families moved away from the Annex, many of the neighbourhoods old homes were converted into apartments. Many students and faculty members from the University of Toronto moved into this area as well as many Hungarian immigrants throughout the 1950’s and 60’s. The Bloor Annex BIA was established here in 1995.

Today, the Annex has a mix of middle-class residents, families and students. It is also home to some of the University of Toronto’s fraternities. Many restaurants, bars and shops line this part of Bloor Street that are geared primarily towards the Annex’s large university population.