Residents mourn as century-old midtown Toronto willow tree cut down

Michael Smee · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 17, 2025 12:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

With the buzz of chainsaws successful the background, residents successful the Yonge-Eglinton area lamented the decease this week of a section landmark: a towering, century-old willow tree.

Andrew Vernon-Betts, a 35-year nonmigratory of Berwick Avenue, says the histrion was the past of the large willow trees successful his neighbourhood. He says azygous family-homes closest to Yonge Street began to vanish respective years ago, replaced by townhouses and highrises. 

And arsenic the homes person disappeared, truthful person the trees, helium says.

"It's a magnificent tree; it's been astir a batch longer than astir of these houses," said Betts."It provides situation for birds, animals and it soaks up the groundwater that comes done this area."

"I consciousness terrible."

The histrion sat successful the backyard of a two-storey location connected Berwick, a quiescent tree-lined thoroughfare similar galore others successful the area. But past year, neighbours say one of the tree's branches fell, damaging a fence.

That enactment the histrion connected the radar of metropolis inspectors who, successful March, issued a removal order, connected the grounds that the histrion violated the city's spot standards guidelines.

"After an on-site inspection of the willow histrion astatine 45 Berwick Avenue, (the city) issued an order...for its removal arsenic the deteriorating authorities of this histrion could contiguous a information contented for the spot proprietor oregon the nationalist successful the adjacent area," city spokesperson Shane Gerard told CBC Toronto successful an email. 

A artifact southbound of Eglinton Avenue and running west disconnected Yonge Street, Berwick Avenue is at the bosom of an ambitious redevelopment plan, approved by the state successful 2019, that promises a overmuch busier neighbourhood "marked by gangly buildings and an aggravated attraction of office, retail, organization and residential uses astatine the Yonge-Eglinton intersection," according to publically disposable documents published by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing successful June 2019.

Tree could person been a 'death trap': arborist

Resident Yusuf Bozkurt questioned whether the tree, which shades his backyard, truly needed to travel down.

"Every greeting I perceive tons of birds connected the tree, I've seen tons of animals making a location (there)," helium said. "Yonge and Eglinton is beauteous due to the fact that we person these beauteous spaces, not conscionable condos."

Veteran arborist Aaron Hill, of Toronto Tree Removal, who was contracted to transportation retired the city's order, said contrary to what immoderate radical mightiness believe, "We're not successful emotion with taking down ample trees; we'd acold alternatively beryllium present maintaining it and  preserving it. But the occupation is, it's gone beyond that."

As workers rolled ample sections of the trunk onto the street, determination were evident signs of decay successful the tree's heart.

"It's structurally unsound," Hill told CBC Toronto. "Before it becomes a decease trap we're taking it down portion it inactive tin beryllium done safely."

Hill called the willow "one of the larger trees successful Toronto. The diameter of the trunk is implicit 5 feet."

But arsenic overmuch arsenic locals mostly similar to person ample trees stay successful place, Hill pointed retired information has to beryllium a priority.

"People sing a antithetic opus erstwhile a elephantine histrion comes down connected their house," helium said.