2 Best Performing Arts in West Queen West, Ossington, and Parkdale, Toronto

This sweeping Queen Anne revival–style building, built in 1889, is one of the city's grandest concert venues, with four event spaces packed over three stories. The Main Hall is a cavernous auditorium with a second-floor gallery overlooking the main floor below, though events are also often held in the basement-level Longboat Hall, which was once a gymnasium in the building's former life as a YMCA. The space hosts everything from touring bands to theater events to craft shows. Stop in to Otto's Bierhalle, which occupies the ground floor, for craft beer and great German-style snacks.

Built in 1909 as a library funded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie, this heritage property underwent extensive renovations and reopened as a theater space in 2016. There's a café and bar as well.