The Whitby 5

Came across these 5 houses in a row while on the bus back from some locations in Pickering, they were and still are surrounded by demolition fencing, so I came back the next day to ensure I got inside before they were demolished, and luckily, I got into 4/5 of them. All of them are planned to be demolished for, you guessed it, more condos. In this case, “Rossmont” is being built here, advertising a “Green Lifestyle” with their motto “Live Green, Live Better”. Whether these condos are worth $500,000 and higher is up for you to decide, but the house at 900 Rossland Rd E sold for only $400,000 in 2004.

812 Rossland Rd E

This is the first of the five houses, and is a grey brick split level. Both doors on the back are wide open, allowing for easy access to the garage and the rest of the house. It appears to have been occupied by a family of 4 up until at least December 28th, 2020. The son was a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the daughter a fan of the Disney movie Frozen, as shown by both of their rooms. The upper floors of the house are largely empty, however the basement is full of garbage and litter.

816 Rossland Rd E

This is the second of the houses, and the only one I didn’t get access to, but not because I couldn’t find a way in. This house is a two story white house, with a garage built as an addition later on. The back door into the hallway connecting the garage and the house was wide open, but the door to the house was locked. The front door is elevated and visible from the street, and I didn’t want to take my chances at being seen over the demolition fence so early into my explore. Up on the deck, the sliding door into the house has had it’s glass broken, but there was a mattress leaned up against the broken door in such a way that it could only have been put up by someone inside. Considering this and the evidence of squatting I had seen in the first house, I decided to leave it alone. Whether there was someone squatting in there or not, I’m not sure, but it’s something for the next explorer to find out.

900 Rossland Rd E

Another split level house, this one had a glass room built onto the back of it, which was full of garbage, but certainly would have been a nice spot in the house when it was clean. Inside was relatively clean, with a few objects here and there, and some graffiti on some of the walls. Upstairs had some parts of the ceilings falling apart, and some animal excrement in one of the rooms, although no signs of the animal.

904 Rossland Rd E

This bungalow was all white, outside and inside, apart from some graffiti in the living room. It was clean, except for the main hallway, which had some trash scattered down it, including but not limited to a plastic vent cover, a spray bottle, an anime poster, and some small scraps of wood. The front door of this house had an interesting design, along with some of the doorknobs inside, which was one of the first things I noticed when entering. There is a fridge sitting in the middle of one of the front rooms for some reason, and it has a red dry erase marker on top of it.

908 Rossland Rd E

The last house in this set of 5, and arguably the best. It’s a red brick back-split, and it’s been vacant since around April 2017, according to a calendar found upstairs. The interior is full of gorgeous wood paneling, and gives off a very mid century feeling inside. Unfortunately, the house is not in the best of condition, with a hole appearing in the roof of one of the upper floor rooms, so if it doesn’t end up demolished soon, nature will do it by itself. My camera was also acting up while I was taking photos here, so I was unable to properly show off the house as best as I could. I might be back to reshoot it, I might not.