The Kingsway is situated  in the west end of Toronto on former Clergy Reserve lands that were deeded to the Church of England in the early 1800's. The church leased this property to farmers until 1908 when it was acquired by Robert Home Smith, the visionary who planned The Kingsway later to be a prominent Toronto neighbourhood.

Home Smith and Company began marketing this subdivision in 1912. However the sale of homes in The Kingsway was stalled by the outbreak of World War I, as well as inadequate transportation routes across the Humber River Valley. It wasn't until 1924 when the Bloor Street bridge was built that the sale of houses in The Kingsway began.

Many of the first Kingsway residents were Northern Ontario mining executives and Toronto businessman who were personally acquainted with Robert Home Smith and were encouraged by him to purchase houses here. Home Smith's motto for The Kingsway was "a little bit of England far from England". His lofty ideal was to establish an English style garden suburb of the highest integrity and beauty. It is Robert Home Smith's legacy that The Kingsway endures today as one Toronto's finest neighbourhoods.