Captain John Denison was the owner of "Brookfield", built around 1815, at the north-west corner of Queen and Ossington. Henry Scadding recounts in his book Toronto Of Old, "Brookfield house was shaded by great willow trees and surrounded by flower gardens and lawns, no mean feat in an area of virgin forest."

The Denison heirs sold Brookfield in the 1850's. By the 1870's a network of streets had been laid out on the former Brookfield estate.

Beaconsfield Avenue became the signature street in the neighbourhood. It is named after former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who was given the title of Lord Beaconsfield by Queen Victoria.