The network of laneways behind the converted factories of Liberty Village is dense with murals commissioned by the neighbourhood's tech companies and creative studios. Corporate meets artistic in interesting ways.
Neighbourhood: Liberty Village · Address: Liberty St, Toronto, ON · Hours: Mon–Sun 24 hours · Price Range: Free · Editorial status: Not yet verified
Liberty Village Laneways are packed with street art that’s actually curated by the local tech and media companies, so you get a window into the neighbourhood’s evolving creative energy. Expect everything from large-scale murals to clever visual in-jokes.
Unlike Toronto’s more famous laneways in the Annex or Queen West, these murals are directly commissioned by Liberty Village’s creative businesses—making the art more corporate and playful at the same time. You’ll spot the clash of old brick factories and hyper-modern tech culture as you wander.
If you’re in Leslieville with a camera, or even just half an hour to kill, walk Queen East between Carlaw and Greenwood. That stretch of brick walls, laneways, garage doors, and side entrances has basically turned into an unofficial outdoor gallery, and it changes constantly. It’s not one polished mural after another in a curated, “stand here for the Instagram shot” kind of way. It feels looser than that. Some pieces are clearly commissioned and massive, covering full building sides with clean lines and serious production value. Then right beside them you’ll find pasted posters, tags, wheatpastes, smaller murals, and strange little additions that showed up overnight. That mix is exactly why it works. What I like about the Queen East Wall Gallery is that it doesn’t ask you to do much. You just walk, look up, double back, peek into alleys, and suddenly you’ve spent way longer there than you expected. A wall you passed last month might already be painted over. A doorframe might have a new stencil. A mural you thought was the main event ends up sharing attention with some scrappy little character painted on a utility box. It feels alive, not preserved. The atmosphere depends on when you go. On a weekend afternoon, Queen East is busy in the best way: people grabbing coffee, walking dogs, stopping for pastries, bikes rolling by, couples doing slow photo laps. You’ll see photographers with actual gear, but also plenty of people just using their phones and taking turns posing against the walls. Nobody looks out of place. If you go earlier in the day, the light is better for photos on some of the south-facing walls, and the sidewalks are easier to wander without constantly stepping around brunch lineups. Later in the evening, it gets moodier and a little quieter, and the colours can look great against the older brick, but some details disappear once the light drops. A practical tip: don’t treat the address like a single destination. It’s really a corridor, and the best stuff isn’t always directly on Queen. Look down the side streets and into the alleys, especially around old industrial buildings and parking areas. Wear comfortable shoes because you’ll probably keep going farther east than planned. And if you’re the kind of person who likes neat, museum-style presentation, this may not be your thing. Parts of it are rough around the edges. That’s the point. It’s open 24 hours and completely free, but weekend is the best time because there’s more energy on the street and you’re more likely to catch artists, or at least spot work that seems fresh enough to still smell like paint. The main reason to come back, though, is simple: it never really stays the same. Local artists add to it, visiting artists leave their mark, and every so often an entire wall gets transformed. Even if you’ve done the walk before, you haven’t done this version of it.
WTF Toronto creates guides using independent editorial research, official sources, local knowledge and firsthand experience where available. Commercial relationships are disclosed where applicable.