Guide · Toronto wall art

Toronto wall art: choosing and hanging map art

A map of your city is one of the most personal things you can hang. It holds your street, your station, the lake you walk to in July. Here is how to pick the right piece, and how to hang it so it looks its best.

The right kind.
The right size.
The right light.

We spent weeks drawing Toronto for the Toronto Live Map, a wooden map of Toronto with a light in every subway station. This guide is what we learned along the way about Toronto wall art in general, whichever piece you choose.

Kinds of Toronto map art

"Toronto map art" covers very different pieces. Each one tells a different part of the city's story.

• Street-grid prints. The long lines of Yonge, Bloor and Queen, often in one or two colours. Clean and graphic; a good fit for modern rooms.
• Neighbourhood maps. Illustrated maps of one area: Leslieville, the Annex, Roncesvalles. The most personal choice when someone has a neighbourhood of their own.
• Transit maps. The subway lines as a diagram, or drawn over the real geography. They read well from across a room. Our Toronto subway map guide explains how the lines fit together.
• Lake and ravine maps. Lake Ontario in depth lines, the river valleys running north. Quiet and natural, good in bedrooms and studies.
• Engraved wooden maps. Lines burned or cut into wood, with real texture you can feel. Warm next to wood furniture and floors, and they age with the room.
• Lit and live transit maps. Maps with small lights that follow trains using open transit data. The art changes through the day; at night it becomes a soft light source. Several cities have one; the Toronto Live Map is ours for Toronto.

Start with the person. A runner might love the waterfront trail; a commuter, the line they ride every morning; someone who grew up here, the neighbourhood names.

Choosing a size

Size matters more than style. A piece that is too small for its wall looks lost; one that is too big crowds the room. A few rules of thumb from framers and interior designers:

• Over furniture, aim for art about two-thirds to three-quarters of the width of the sofa, bed or sideboard under it.
• On its own wall, leave clear space around it on every side; a lone piece wants room to breathe.
• Map detail needs viewing distance. Fine lettering reads best at one to two metres, so a detailed map suits a hallway, a desk wall or above a console, where people stand close.

For scale: a 20 × 16 inch piece (508 × 406 mm, the size of the Toronto Live Map) suits an entry wall, a home office, a bedroom wall or a console about 75 to 100 cm wide. Over a large sofa, pair it with one or two other pieces, or hang a bigger print.

How high to hang it

Galleries hang art so that its centre sits at about eye level: 145 to 152 cm (57 to 60 inches) from the floor. It works in most homes, too.

• Above a sofa or sideboard, leave about 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches) between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the frame, so the two read as one group.
• In a hallway, stay at eye level; people walk past at standing height.
• In a child's room, hang it a little higher, out of reach of small hands.

Use a picture hook or wall anchor rated well above the weight of the piece, and a level. In older Toronto houses with plaster walls, a hook made for plaster, or a picture rail, avoids cracking. Renting? Small picture-hook nails leave holes that are easy to fill when you move.

Light and placement

Light changes how a piece looks more than anything else in the room.

• Keep wood and paper out of direct sun. Sunlight slowly fades prints and warms the tone of pale, natural woods. A wall beside a window, rather than opposite it, is kinder.
• Watch for heat and steam. Spots above radiators, heat vents and in bathrooms are hard on wood and paper alike.
• Give engraving a raking light. Light from one side, from a lamp or a window, brings out the texture of an engraved map.
• For a lit piece, choose a wall near an outlet and a spot you see in the evening: from the sofa, the dining table or the bed. Lights read best on a wall away from bright lamps.

The Toronto Live Map runs on one USB-C cable, included, and a 5 V USB-C adapter. A paintable cord cover along the wall keeps the cable tidy. Brightness goes from a soft glow to off, and a night schedule can dim it or switch it off between two times you choose, which makes a bedroom wall an easy choice.

A Toronto gallery wall

A map is a natural anchor for a gallery wall about the city. Put the largest piece slightly off centre, then build around it: a photo of your street, a print from a local illustrator, a ticket from the first Jays game you went to.

• Keep the gaps between frames even, about 5 to 8 cm (2 to 3 inches).
• Lay the pieces out on the floor first, or tape paper shapes to the wall, before you put a single nail in.
• Repeat one colour or one frame finish across the group so it reads as a set.

Caring for wood wall art

Wood is easy to live with. Dust it with a soft, dry cloth or a clean brush now and then. Skip sprays and polish: they can soak into bare, engraved wood and darken it unevenly. Keep the room's humidity steady, as you would for wood furniture; wood art is happiest away from big swings between dry and damp.

Small differences in grain and tone between two panels are normal: every piece of natural wood is a little different, which is part of what makes each piece one of a kind.

Where the Toronto Live Map fits

We made the Toronto Live Map for people who want Toronto wall art that keeps moving. It's a wooden map of Toronto, engraved into natural wood and set in a real wood frame: the shoreline, the islands, the ravines and the neighbourhood names.

Behind the wood are 108 small lights, one per subway station. In Live mode, a station glows as a train arrives, from live TTC subway data. Lines 1, 2 and 4 are live today; Lines 5 and 6 join Live mode as soon as their live data is published. Ten light modes, from a warm Glow to a slow Sunrise, change its mood for the evening. How it works has the details, and the design story shows how we drew it.

Keep exploring

• Toronto Live MapThe engraved wooden map that glows as trains arrive, and the VIP reservation.
• Gifts for someone who loves TorontoOur 2026 guide, for every kind of Torontonian.
• The Toronto subway mapLines 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, station by station.
• QuestionsSize, set-up, shipping and more.

General guidance from us, with zero sponsored or affiliate links. Check the weight rating of any hook against your piece, and follow the instructions for your wall type.