Why Is It Called The Queensway? The Etobicoke Answer

Published 30 August 2026 · Jatin Dua, Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty

The short answer

The road takes its name from Queen Elizabeth and belongs to the same naming family as the Queen Elizabeth Way, the highway it runs alongside. The QEW opened in 1939 and was named to mark the royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth that year. The Queensway carries the same royal reference in a local, municipal form.

The definite article is the giveaway. “The Queensway” is not a street named after a person in the ordinary way, like Royal York Road. It is named as a way belonging to the Queen — a description rather than a label. That is why locals never say “Queensway” on its own, and why it sounds wrong when they do.

Why this matters more than trivia

Because the naming explains the shape of the corridor, and the shape is what you are buying into.

The Queensway exists as a parallel local road to a major provincial highway. That is its entire purpose. It is not a residential side street that grew up — it is a service and commercial spine running alongside the QEW and later the Gardiner, which is exactly why it ended up lined with car dealerships, big-box retail, light industry and strip plazas rather than the tree-lined blocks one street north or south.

And that history is precisely why it is now being redeveloped so heavily. Large, shallow commercial lots with highway access, on a transit route, inside the city — that is the most redevelopable land in Etobicoke. The corridor is filling with mid-rise condominiums because its original job is obsolete, not because someone decided it was a nice place for towers.

Three things that follow, if you are buying here

• It is a wide, busy arterial road. That is what it was built to be. Suites facing The Queensway get traffic noise; suites facing the rear generally do not. Ask which way yours faces before you fall in love with the view.
• Driving is genuinely easy, transit is genuinely mediocre. The highway access that created this road still works beautifully. The subway does not come here. Anyone selling you “steps to transit” on this corridor is describing a bus.
• The retail mix is changing under you. The dealerships and strip plazas that defined The Queensway for sixty years are the exact sites being rezoned. A view over a low-rise plaza today is not a permanent view.

One thing to be careful about when you search

If you search “Queensway” without qualifying it, much of what you find will be Queensway in London, England — a different street, a different Tube station, a different shopping centre. There is also a Queensway in Ottawa, which is what Highway 417 is locally called. When researching this corridor, always search “The Queensway Etobicoke” or “The Queensway Toronto”.

Why this matters if you are buying here

The history explains the street. The Queensway was laid out as a through route rather than as a main street, which is why it is wide, fast and lined with the deep commercial lots that later made mid-rise redevelopment straightforward. A corridor that was designed to move traffic and later acquired a retail frontage behaves differently from a historic village main street that acquired traffic — and the difference shows up in which units are pleasant to live in.

The Queensway condominium corridor is mostly mid-rise stock from roughly 2015 onward, sitting directly on the retail frontage rather than behind it. That produces a specific kind of daily life — most errands on foot, both the Gardiner Expressway and Highway 427 close by car, and an arterial road as the front yard.

The due diligence that actually applies

• Which side of the street, and how high. Stand in the bedroom with the window open at a busy hour. Two units in one building can be very different products on this variable alone.
• The reserve fund, against the age of the corporation. These buildings are young, so a low fee is arithmetic rather than evidence of good management. Ask whether the first reserve fund study update has happened and what it did to the required contribution.
• What the fee includes. Utilities are usually separately metered here. Add your own estimated bills before comparing against an older all-inclusive Etobicoke building.
• Parking and locker status. Owned unit, exclusive-use common element, or rented — only the first two convey.
• What is proposed next door. The corridor is still developing, so the low-rise or parking lot beside a building may not stay that way. The City’s development application records are public.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• City of Toronto — Planning and Development — current and proposed development along The Queensway corridor. Accessed 10 September 2026.
• Toronto Transit Commission — surface routes serving The Queensway and connections to Line 2. Accessed 10 September 2026.
• TRREB Market Watch, August 2026 — the Etobicoke average sale price of $1,049,793 across 243 sales. Accessed 10 September 2026.

Related reading

• The Queensway, Etobicoke: the reference guide to the corridor
• Shopping and amenities on The Queensway
• Every condo building on The Queensway
• Getting around from The Queensway: the transit guide
• The Queensway development pipeline, 2026

Compiled from public sources and the City of Toronto planning record where applicable. Believed accurate but not guaranteed; corrections welcome. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers under contract with another brokerage. E.&O.E.