Welcome back to another look at The City with Cedric Richards, where you can expect a look at the Forest City with a fresh perspective. Thank you to all of you who have chosen The Loon in reading and subscribing to us each day.
For this edition, let’s branch out from the core, quite literally and take the south branch of the Thames Valley Parkway (TVP) to make our way to SoHo. Specifically Village SoHo, and some other places too.
This is an area of London that has been all things to all Londoners since it joined London in 1840. This was the area of London where Indigenous people, immigrants, people of all races, and settlers and their descendants lived amongst each other. Sort of a proto-White Oaks, when you think about it. At the corner of South and Colborne was where the original Victoria Hospital was based until it closed in 2013. From 1875 and onwards, a campus developed on surrounding blocks, serving the healthcare needs of a region, eventually making this city a healthcare capital of sorts. This and surrounding buildings were eventually gutted or demolished in the years after the hospital was closed.
The redevelopment of the area was a hot topic for a few years, and Vision SoHo Alliance was launched in the spring of 2022 as a consortium of several non-profits and home builders, and championed by the London Community Foundation. Later renamed Village SoHo, the group is behind the construction of several mid-rise residential buildings that will contain a great number of affordable housing units in hopes of improving the material conditions of community members. I wanted to showcase this area because in what may look like a divided city, people get together to do good things.
SoHo has been a lot of things for me as well. I briefly worked inside the Victoria Professional Centre office building, and regularly frequented the convenience stores and other shops. I have also visited many of the neighbourhood’s restaurants like Enat and Caribbean Stove Pickup. The only thing I dreaded was the bus trip through there, which involved a circuitous loop through the neighbourhood.
Join me by bike and let’s make a visit through SoHo.
I have my misgivings about the Thames Valley Parkway, but it is a beautiful path in all four of the seasons. It wraps around Richard B. Harrison Park, which is located at the dead ends of both South Street and Clarence Street.
Richard B. Harrison was an accomplished actor and playwright who was born and raised in London to parents who escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad. He lends his name to the park, with a plaque and a blurb about his life located at the TVP approaching Wellington Road.
The park has seen an improvement of amenities this year, with a new playground and a new seating area.
The Thames Valley Parkway continues under Clark’s Bridge, one of London’s oldest bridges, which was recently reopened after a widening for the Wellington Gateway rapid transit project.
Previously, to continue along the TVP, you would have to use Wellington Road where the path continues along the south side of the river. Recently, an extension quietly opened which extends the TVP along the north side of the river.
This path is part of a relatively new park known as Wellington Valley Park. There are some benches and garbage bins scattered along the way, with an unnamed municipal street connecting South Street and a future extension of Nelson Street.
A plaza is taking shape at the corner of Nelson and Colborne where both streets begin. Previously, Nelson extended as far west as Wellington, but the 1937 floods played a role in wiping much of the area out. Thameswood Lodge, a low-rise building that contained accommodations for long-term patients who lived out of town, was located on Nelson before being demolished in 2015.
A sign ahead warns of a steep grade and a lower speed limit. The TVP extension wraps around London Hospital Linen Service, located at the very end of Maitland Street. Southwest of the path’s curve will be the site of another new district park to complement nearby Meredith Park, from a distance. The TVP in SoHo comes to an end at this point. Across from LHLS is Smith Fruit, a produce warehouse that has been serving retailers since 1959. This block of Maitland Street is so institutional in nature that the sole house along Maitland sticks out like a sore thumb.
Strano’s Deli and Bakery is located at William and South Street, and is a tremendous place to do a little grocery trip for Italian food, and to grab a sandwich too! If you’re looking to visit, watch for the green roof. My sandwich on this visit had provolone, capicollo, and sopressata.
Back in Village SoHo, Residenza Affordable Housing has a mid-rise apartment building under construction on 88 Colborne Street, called Residenza Victoria. This is the last of the apartments in Village SoHo that is scheduled to open, aiming for a 2028 date. Residenza has two existing residential buildings in the Fairmont area, each known as Residenza Italia and Residenza Ortona, opening more than a decade ago when the organization was known as the Italian Seniors Project.
There are signs located along Hill Street and South Street that were unveiled as part of the Doors Open London event a few weeks ago. Along Hill Street, there are signs outlining the cultural heritage of the area, and experiences of Indigenous, Black people, and immigrants.
The apartment buildings along Hill Street that have fully opened are Greg Playford Place, Chelsea on the Thames, and River Ridge at 351, 373, and 385 Hill Street, respectively. The apartment at 351 Hill is named after Greg Playford who is a longtime mortgage broker and was president of Homes Unlimited, an organization behind many affordable housing developments in this city.
Behind those buildings on South Street, Zerin Place opened in 2025. Flanking Zerin are two hospital buildings that are still under construction. The Victoria Health Services building at 346 South will be opening as Antler River Apartments. It originally opened in 1921 at a medical school, becoming the Health Service Building, a research facility in 1965.
On the east side of Zerin Place is the War Memorial Children’s Hospital site, which will open as the Hilda Stuart Lofts. In front of Hilda Stuart will be a city-owned public square, which will face the “four corners” of SoHo at South and Colborne Street. Hilda Stuart was a nurse who served in the first World War and was a longtime nursing superintendent at the hospital campus.
Along the South Street side of the multiple buildings under construction, there are signs about the medical research history that occurred in the hospital campus.
Pate’s Pantry Variety was one of the convenience stores I frequented when I worked in SoHo. I really like the roof that sits atop it.
Victoria Professional Centre was where I worked inside for a brief period in late 2011 to early 2012. It is one of the tallest office buildings outside of the downtown core and has had a cafe on the ground floor for many years. The current iteration of the ground floor cafe is known as Espresso Betty. I love the exterior of this building, and how the windows fit with it.
And with that, we can make our way back to the Thames Valley Parkway through that new extension of Waterloo Street.
I hope you enjoyed our time together today. I really had fun wandering through a neighborhood that is constantly in evolution. You do not need to think twice about visiting this place. You have heard of the saying, “I love it when a good plan comes together”. In this case, I love when people come together. The community will be transformed through this initiative for the better.
Check back each Tuesday for my take on experiencing London from a fresh perspective. I am excited to bike around the city and report back to you. I welcome comments, suggestions, and topics to discuss each Tuesday. Please subscribe and let’s talk soon!
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