O'Neill

O'Neill is the older neighbourhood directly north of downtown Oshawa, east of Simcoe Street North. Most guides run it from about Adelaide Avenue East north to Rossland Road East, with Ritson Road North on the east, taking in Mary Street North, Central Park Boulevard North and the streets around Alexandra Park and the Oshawa Golf and Curling Club. Whether the blocks between Bond Street and Adelaide, including O'Neill Collegiate itself, belong to O'Neill or to Central varies by map, so treat the southern line as roughly drawn.

The oldest houses stand along Simcoe Street North and on Masson, Alexandra, Hillcroft and Elgin streets: two and two-and-a-half storey brick from the 1900s to the 1930s, some grand, many converted at some point to duplexes or offices and a good number restored since. East of Mary Street North the stock is smaller and later, storey-and-a-half wartime and immediate post-war houses on 40 to 50 foot lots, brick bungalows from the 1950s, and semis and a few small walk-up apartments toward Ritson Road North. Central Park Boulevard North and the streets near the golf club hold larger mid-century houses on generous lots. Along Simcoe and Mary streets and near Rossland Road East, rental and condominium apartment towers from the 1960s and 1970s rise above the houses. Infill is steady rather than dramatic: replacement two-storeys on old lots, a few small townhouse rows and the occasional new low-rise condo. Detached garages, driveways down the side and 100-foot-deep lots are typical of the older blocks.

Simcoe Street North carries the 901 PULSE, Durham Region Transit's busiest line, south to the downtown terminal and north to the university campus, and the Highway 2 PULSE buses from Pickering and Scarborough reportedly end downtown a few blocks away. Local routes run on Mary Street North, Ritson Road North and Adelaide Avenue East, and the 916 crosses the top of the community on Rossland Road East. Oshawa GO is about a ten-minute drive or one bus transfer away, and the Central Oshawa GO stop planned for 500 Howard Street, part of the extension toward Bowmanville, will be closer still once built. Highway 401 is reached via Simcoe Street or Ritson Road South. The community is one of the few in Oshawa where walking is realistic: downtown, the hospital, the arena and the Ontario Tech downtown buildings are all within about a kilometre and a half of most streets, and cyclists use the Oshawa Creek path just west of Simcoe.

O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute, the Durham District School Board high school that gives the community its name, offers the regular academic streams and reportedly hosts the board's regional arts program. The public elementaries most often reported for the area are Dr. S.J. Phillips and Mary Street Community School, with French immersion available through the board at designated sites. On the Catholic side, St. Gregory Catholic School near St. Gregory the Great parish on Simcoe Street North is the usual elementary, feeding Monsignor Paul Dwyer on Stevenson Road North or Monsignor John Pereyma in the south end. French-language boards run École élémentaire Antonine-Maillet (Viamonde) and École élémentaire catholique Corpus-Christi (MonAvenir) in Oshawa. School assignments follow board-drawn boundaries that shift over time, so verify the schools tied to a specific address. Ontario Tech's downtown campus is walkable and Trent University Durham sits near Oshawa GO.

Alexandra Park, among the city's oldest, sits at the community's centre with its lawn bowling greens, ball diamonds, playground and the Kinsmen Civic Memorial Stadium, and the private Oshawa Golf and Curling Club spreads across the blocks north of Alexandra Street. Parkwood's gardens are open to visitors in season, and the Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens and the creek trail are a short walk west across Simcoe. Daily shopping happens at Simcoe Street North's plazas, at the stores along Ritson Road North and Adelaide Avenue East, and downtown, where the Tribute Communities Centre, the Regent Theatre, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery and a growing set of restaurants and cafés sit within a fifteen-minute walk. The Oshawa Centre mall is about a five-minute drive west on King Street. Lakeridge Health Oshawa, the largest hospital in Durham Region, is at the south-west corner, which means both convenience and ambulance sirens. The McLaughlin branch of the public library is downtown on Bagot Street.

O'Neill suits buyers who want character, a walkable location and a big lot with mature trees, and who accept that a century house needs ongoing care. It is a natural fit for hospital and university staff, for downsizers who want a bungalow near services without leaving the city core, and for investors interested in legal duplexes and the apartment market near the campus bus. It suits fewer people who want a turnkey new house with an attached double garage, a quiet cul-de-sac or a uniform streetscape, and the blocks nearest downtown and the towers see more foot traffic, noise and parking pressure than the rest of the community.