West Lodge Apartments, also known simply as West Lodge, is a 720 [1] unit apartment complex located at 103 and 105 West Lodge Avenue in Parkdale, Toronto. The complex consists of two curved 18 story towers joined at the base by a 5-story segment which includes a convenience store on the second floor.
The complex was built in 1964 and by the mid 1970s [1] had already become notorious [2] [3] [4] as the source of numerous building code violations, [5] and for its general state of disrepair. [6] The apartments have been the site of decades of tenant organizing [7] continuing up to the present. [8] [9] [10] [11] Most notably, tenants in the 1970s were able to bring a case before the Supreme Court of Canada in October 1975 [12] and organize a substantial bid to buy the complex from the City of Toronto and convert it into co-operative housing - a bid that ultimately failed when the building's previous owners put in a higher bid at the last minute. [7] Through the 2010s and 2020s the building has continued to be a subject of concern, receiving in 2016 the most code violations of any building in the city. [13] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, tenants occupied a vacant unit on the second floor of 103 West Lodge, which now serves as a food bank for tenants. [10]