Ugly Canada 2 (Only architecture, planning and design faux pas)

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Yeah I noticed that one too. It is nice, but still half the backyard is taken up by driveway/garage.

This area of Cobourg is quite interesting for all the different options displayed, if you move around a little. There are detached garages on laneways, attached at the back with laneway access, attached at the front with front access, attached at the back with front access, detached in the backyard with front access.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Me76gpfNUgEwBqtf7

There are a few that are attached at the back with laneway access and still have very generous yards. Ultimately I would choose that but the lot size of those is quite large at 60 ft width. The vast majority with rear garages don't have much of a backyard.

There's a neighbourhood in Markham with lane-accessed detached garages that also have living space above the garages that can be rented out. A good arrangement, I think, although parking can be an issue.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by megadude

Ya I'm not a fan of the garage in the back either. That feels more "city" to me than outskirts or suburbs. But appearance wise, those do tend to look nicer.

I'd take snout nose as well, which I personally have no problem with. But in an ideal world I'd have a non snout nose house with a detached garage in the front on an acre of land.

Anyway, this example in Oakville shows both examples across the street from each other. You can see on the north side that the backyards aren't much. But those houses do look rather nice and better than the snout noses but I'd have to take the practicality of the bigger backyard. Unless the lots came deeper and I could have the best of both worlds.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4718.../data=!3m1!1e3

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4720...7i16384!8i8192

I grew up in a house like this, with the garage in the back. It was the only one like it on the street, and the lot size was the same as every other house, so the rear yard was tiny because of it. Otherwise it was nice. A pain to shovel though since the driveway was like 3x bigger than normal.

[osmo]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Thankfully we've moved away from that all glass trend as the latest crop of buildings have actual walls, colour, texture, etc. On the flip side it's going to take decades before those soul sucking buildings fade from sight. Their facades won't start failing for 20-30 years or more so that's a long time to wait. I suppose they'll become less visible as newer buildings hem them in from all sides but still. Till then, they'll remain 'NO GO' areas for me.

Who will pay for these failed systems? Condo reserve funds are already spotty and if you have an inept board you can bet there is not going to be sufficient capital in the piggy bank to fix these issues down the road. My biggest gripe with these concrete and glass tombs is that they are not built to last.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by osmo

Who will pay for these failed systems? Condo reserve funds are already spotty and if you have an inept board you can bet there is not going to be sufficient capital in the piggy bank to fix these issues down the road. My biggest gripe with these concrete and glass tombs is that they are not built to last.

In a properly run condo, the life cycle replacements will be accounted for. However, I think condo owners will need to be prepared for significant special assessments for major projects like recladding. Another reason for owners to be better informed about their condos finances and operations than they generally are.

[megadude]

Getting into the opposite of ugly, would you be okay if developers started building in these styles, but new? But also at the same time make them energy efficient. So not an authentic historic home, but still have the authentic style.

Sure, the material might be more expensive but if I were rich, I'd spend the extra dough on the material to have a house that stands out from the mcmansions that are being built.

Country style with wrap around porch though I'd think can't be that much more expensive than a regular brick home built these days. Up north, I see some new build cottages surrounded by trees just a short walk to the lake that are built like a house in a Mississauga subdivision, such as one of the guys we know up there who is from Sauga and mostly built the house himself. I find it odd that you'd go from one brick home to another when getting away, especially given the surroundings.

I also see standard modern brick homes built in place of an old farm houses on a barren piece of former farm land. Built in grey too. I can't imagine how depressing that looks on a grey November day. It just seems like a country house with a wrap around porch should be there.

While most tear down and rebuilt houses in urban areas are mcmansions and built tall, I do know of some in the richer areas in the burbs built in the last 20 years that were built wide and easily could have been in a warm and charming country style way, but it seems whether it was a spec or custom build, so many people choose either mcmansion or modern cubist glass structures.

These are homes I find quite attractive and wish they were way more present than they are. They're in Old Oakville, Unionville in Markham, Toronto and Galt Cambridge for the stone house. Galt has tonnes of those. Another place along the Grand River watershed would be Brantford. Along Brant St. in that mature neigbourhood is a wonderful area full of well maintained heritage homes, which is surprising given the shittyness of the rest of the city. Though I've heard Brantford way back in the day was one of the richest towns in the country.



https://www.livabl.com/2015/01/early...ng-styles.html


https://www.toronto.com/news-story/5...ar-properties/


https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/52002570676396639/


https://www.yelp.ca/biz_photos/minke...7m2H8yf98ov2Cw


https://www.houseporn.ca/architectur...nadian_village


https://www.houseporn.ca/architectur...nadian_village


https://www.oakvillerealestateonline...e_1000659.html


https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/178173728982073283/

[kwoldtimer]

I'm not sure what you find "authentic" about a pre-War Tudor style house, but to each their own. Houses continue to be built in contemporary versions of most if not all of the houses you've shown. I suppose there's would be nothing to stop a wealthy person from building a house using the tastes, materials and methods of a century ago, but you don't often hear of it.

[megadude]

Here's an example in Oakville in a mature neighbourhood with good lot space. These houses are a couple houses apart. I'd take the first style over the second style every time. It seems warmer to me and something I'd rather pull up to in my car everyday than the other house.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4559...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4565...7i13312!8i6656

[TownGuy]

Complete lack of density in those examples.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I'm not sure what you find "authentic" about a pre-War Tudor style house, but to each their own. Houses continue to be built in contemporary versions of most if not all of the houses you've shown. I suppose there's would be nothing to stop a wealthy person from building a house using the tastes, materials and methods of a century ago, but you don't often hear of it.

I'm not really into architecture so I don't really know what you mean by your first statement. I suppose you mean tudor goes back to medieval times so tudor here isn't actually authentic? I just mean it in the Canadian way. As in Canadian tudor, when it arrived in Canada.

There actually is a street close to me where several of the houses were built with tudor elements incorporated into them but clearly not a "tudor home".

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4638...7i16384!8i8192

Then there's this townhouse complex in Sauga.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5261...7i16384!8i8192

And ya, you hear of wealthy people importing some rare material from Italy or India to use for their kitchen counter top or something but not importing or replicating material for a whole house.

For a different kind of structure, the impressive hindu temple it Etobicoke, is one example I can think of sourcing what I assume is way more expensive and rarer material. "The mandir was built in 18 months and consists of 24,000 pieces of hand-carved Italian carrara marble, Turkish limestone and Indian pink stone.[1] The mandir is the largest of its kind in Canada and was constructed according to guidelines outlined in ancient Hindu scriptures."

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by megadude

Here's an example in Oakville in a mature neighbourhood with good lot space. These houses are a couple houses apart. I'd take the first style over the second style every time. It seems warmer to me and something I'd rather pull up to in my car everyday than the other house.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4559...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4565...7i13312!8i6656

You're highlighting that people's tastes vary? I think we knew that already.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Complete lack of density in those examples.

Which is the appeal for many older people with money or rich families in the burbs who want some more space for their kids. These areas will always be this way. If I were rich, this is what I'd choose. Preferably in Old Oakville, Burlington, Unionville, Streetsville, etc. where I have some lot space but can also walk to some stores on a "main street".

[megadude]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

You're highlighting that people's tastes vary? I think we knew that already.

Obviously. And I'm pointing out my preference. But it ties into my post with all the pictures where I asked would you like to see more homes built in country style (or other styles)? Would YOU like that for your home? Would you like entire neighbourhoods like that which makes for a more interesting surrounding when walking or driving around? So not your home personally, but the homes in your city. And by city, I really mean newer parts or suburbs where it's typical tract housing. Or like some places in TO, North York in particular, where it's mcmansion after mcmansion in neighbourhoods that are basically full of torn down and re-built houses in similar style.

[vid]

100 years ago, many houses weren't built with electricity, water, gas, sewer, telecommunications, etc. The bathroom was a water closet at best, an outhouse or a chamber pot for most. In my neighbourhood until around WWI, you shit into a bucket and in the morning you dumped the bucket into a ditch in front of the house.

So they had a lot of money to spend on fancy bricks and woodwork to make houses look more ornate back then.

That said, this woodwork:



Could easily be mass produced in China and shipped here, the rounded bricks could be single large molded pieces so that no one has to learn how to properly lay bricks anymore. There are modern ways to make this house cheaply and without the skills needed in the past. But why spend an extra few hundred bucks on a pointy window when you can get the colour changing LED strip lights in the ceiling recess in the rec room instead?

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Yeah I noticed that one too. It is nice, but still half the backyard is taken up by driveway/garage.

This area of Cobourg is quite interesting for all the different options displayed, if you move around a little. There are detached garages on laneways, attached at the back with laneway access, attached at the front with front access, attached at the back with front access, detached in the backyard with front access.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Me76gpfNUgEwBqtf7

There are a few that are attached at the back with laneway access and still have very generous yards. Ultimately I would choose that but the lot size of those is quite large at 60 ft width. The vast majority with rear garages don't have much of a backyard.

There's literally no yard at all. From the air I assumed this would be hideous at street level but actually the quality of houses and materials and the trees on the street make this much nicer than the Calgary suburbs I posted before. I'm envious of all the brick used on homes out east. Here it's all stucco and vinyl shit.

[megadude]

Ya that Cobourg neighbourhood is aesthetically pleasing for this stage. When those trees grow it'll start to resemble something really charming.

Can I just point out these cool colonial style homes? At first glance they seem like a small colonial mansion from Savannah, but then I noticed they are semis, something I've never seen before for this style.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.9671...7i13312!8i6656


But ya, some of these homes have zero backyard, which would seem odd to me... living in a detached house! Especially in a suburban type setting.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

There's literally no yard at all. From the air I assumed this would be hideous at street level but actually the quality of houses and materials and the trees on the street make this much nicer than the Calgary suburbs I posted before. I'm envious of all the brick used on homes out east. Here it's all stucco and vinyl shit.

You're envious of the brick but to me there's too much of it here. I like mixed neighbourhoods of siding and brick. I wouldn't mind to see some elements of AB and BC style, colour and material thrown in here and there in these parts.

[megadude]

By the way, would you say this condo complex in Barrie, ON is representative of AB and BC style and colour?

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.3548...7i13312!8i6656

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by megadude

By the way, would you say this condo complex in Barrie, ON is representative of AB and BC style and colour?

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.3548...7i13312!8i6656

Maybe for higher end multifamily. Unfortunately most housing is greige vinyl or stucco with some wood shingles on the front that fade and never get re-stained. Calgary's inner city condos have really stepped up their game of late, but the suburban stuff is mostly still shit.

[O-tacular]

I wonder would many of the 'historic' homes we see today have been considered ugly back when they were built? Most are bastardized versions of classical architecture. Or is it modern renovations that make them look worse? Here are a couple examples from Medicine Hat that clearly look like ripoffs of Victorian homes from the early 20th century:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0400...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0385...7i13312!8i6656

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I wonder would many of the 'historic' homes we see today have been considered ugly back when they were built? Most are bastardized versions of classical architecture. Or is it modern renovations that make them look worse? Here are a couple examples from Medicine Hat that clearly look like ripoffs of Victorian homes from the early 20th century:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0400...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0385...7i13312!8i6656

Most would have appealed to the tastes of the time, one assumes, or they would not have been built.