A little-used street running under a major Toronto highway has long been home to a peculiar, space-age-looking structure that residents of the city have questioned its purpose. Now, it looks like we finally have an answer to what has become a quirky local mystery.

Though the rounded, cream-coloured bunker has clearly been abandoned and vandalized, those passing by its location on Disco Road under Highway 427 often wonder what it is and where it came from.

Multiple people in the area have taken to social media looking for answers, including just this past week, when yet another citizen shared a photo of the thing asking, simply, "What the hell is this?"

What the hell is this
byu/DarylDarylDarylDaryl intoronto

Crowd-sourced theories include that it could be an old warming hut, a defunct public washroom, a service entrance for the sewers or the subway, or even a tornado shelter.

Others have more accurately surmised that it could be some sort of control equipment box, likely to do with lighting or electrical components for the freeway.

"I sense a tiny home ready to be stealthily occupied," a commenter joked. Meanwhile, one driver decided to go investigate, showing in a YouTube clip that the obsolete "little white egg" had indeed been taken over at some point for other purposes, and furnished with two chairs and a table.

What is this hut thing on the side of the road?
byu/paltry_niche inwhatisthisthing

A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation has confirmed to blogTO that the structure — which technically sits beneath the ramp from southbound Highway 427 to eastbound Highway 409, right on the border between Toronto and Mississauga — is "a meter building under the ownership and management of the City of Mississauga."

The media department of that City was able to explain further over email this week that the tiny building was originally used "to house a meter that measured wastewater flow going to Toronto for treatment."

"The meter has been relocated and the building is no longer needed," a representative said. "Our colleagues at the Region of Peel and City of Toronto are investigating the removal of the building."

So, for anyone who, for some reason, feels the need to experience this bizarre bit of Toronto lore for yourself, you may want to go check it out sooner rather than later before it is gone for good.