Shacks by the Stacks: The Great Canadian Shacks in the City Thread

[suburbanite]

Is this, dare I say, within range of the mighty FCP?

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6534...7i16384!8i8192

I actually love eclectic stretches of residential Toronto like this, but the two in the forefront could definitely be described as shacky.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6558...7i16384!8i8192

[Nashe]

Not really a shack, but plenty sketchy.

Strip Club across from Town Hall

[HomeInMyShoes]

A large portion of Regina might qualify for this thread.

St. John Street

Angus Street

[rivercity]

Winnipeg: Old house incorporated into multiple commercial additions with its remnants still poking out from above.


https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.89082...7i13312!8i6656

[lio45]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Is this, dare I say, within range of the mighty FCP?

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6534...7i16384!8i8192

There's a sign in the window that looks like an application for a bigger project at that location, I think that house isn't long for this world :/

I love it though. I find it... fascinating... that on occasion houses like that would survive in much denser and more urban settings. Having witnessed centuries of change around them, yet still there.

Here's a 200+ years old example in Lower Manhattan:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7193...7i16384!8i8192

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

Back in the early 80's I was often on this street and I always noticed this house as a hold out for the towers that were appearing and often thought it wouldn't be around for long

https://goo.gl/maps/Rkwa8JMxQ77X3hPd6

It lasted until 2018 and by 2019

https://goo.gl/maps/x1mJvizJQGPAfQj58 the demolition experts had weaved their magic.

Great thread topic.

How about Roundabouts of Canada, merging lanes past and present, municipal signs with incorrect spelling, out of date 'coming soon' development signs

Out of date "coming soon" signs please!

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by rivercity

Winnipeg: Old house incorporated into multiple commercial additions with its remnants still poking out from above.

There used to be a dozen, maybe twenty, houses left in the downtown core out of what a century ago would have been hundreds. Mostly south of Broadway, but there was the one on Fort Street, that one on Graham, the funny old restaurant on Westbrook, and the ancient house on Albert Street that was already an oddity by this time last century (and which was lost to fire a decade ago). There is also the nicely restored Kelly house at 88 Adelaide and the elegant "Dalnavert" at 61 Carlton. But for the most part these small treasures that added texture and interest to downtown streets are disappearing.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Is this, dare I say, within range of the mighty FCP?

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6534...7i16384!8i8192

I actually love eclectic stretches of residential Toronto like this, but the two in the forefront could definitely be described as shacky.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6558...7i16384!8i8192

So much Shaq, it is Shackelford.

[MolsonExport]

Viger & St. Andre, Montreal


Coloniale and Napoleon:

[kool maudit]

I used to live a few steps from this corner, which isn't exactly right in the skyscrapers but its pretty inner-city in its own way. These houses, though, were straight from the bayou:

https://goo.gl/maps/MxmU9f5pFDAVVEnp9

[MolsonExport]

One of my beloved old shack restaurants in Montreal. Going, going...Gone!

ctv


Downtown Montreal institution Bar-B Barn has closed, leaving fans bereft

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I used to live a few steps from this corner, which isn't exactly right in the skyscrapers but its pretty inner-city in its own way. These houses, though, were straight from the bayou:

https://goo.gl/maps/MxmU9f5pFDAVVEnp9

cool hood.

[kool maudit]

Side trip to inner Stockholm (hard mode):

https://goo.gl/maps/x574bc8nRSgJCEEf6

[MolsonExport]

Shacktacious. Reminds me of the shacky but endearing places I saw when I spent time in and around Oslo, as well as in Groningen (medium-sized Uni town in northern Netherlands).

[lio45]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Viger & St. Andre, Montreal


Coloniale and Napoleon:

The first one is awesome. Is it threatened? Hope someone will restore it.

(I wonder how much it would sell for. I'd consider making it my next project. )

Regarding the second one, while it's visually striking, it merely looks like a three-story wooden shack or barn because it's currently cladding-free. I guarantee it won't look special anymore at some point (it will either have cladding or else have been demolished), i.e. the exotic/shacky factor is not inherent to the building.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Side trip to inner Stockholm (hard mode):

https://goo.gl/maps/x574bc8nRSgJCEEf6

Is that style of roof tile typical in Sweden...? Weird combo, those tiles + industrial siding.

[kool maudit]

It isn't industrial siding, it's a type of wooden outer wall that is traditional here, with thin beams and narrow plys (I also thought all those old cottages I'd see from the road had siding at first, and I was like "why?"). Birch maybe?

That roof, though, looks like a cheap, early-20th attempt to mimic the appearance of old terra cotta roofs. Maybe tin?

Edit: Zooming in they just look like insubstantial terra cotta tiles. Thinner than usual, but not metal.

[niwell]

Craven Rd in Toronto's East End, created from the former backyards of houses on Ashdale. Most of the originals would have been owner built in the early 1900s and probably were close to legitimate shacks before multiple upgrades over the years:

https://goo.gl/maps/ebh8ifUe2LzasNBV7

https://goo.gl/maps/LKYG4LmyDzQsGVYJ8


Toronto's Earlscourt area was more or less a shack town from the late 1800s to around WWI as it was quite hilly (hard to develop), beyond city limits and lacked basic municipal services. Yet was in close proximity to major industry in the West Toronto Junction and Weston and allowed new immigrants to actually purchase land. Dwellings ranged from fairly decent owner built houses to what amounted to a roof over a roughed in basement. The area was no stranger to media at the time and was even featured in Lawrence Harris paintings:


https://www.klinkhoff.ca/blog/7942/


Today the housing stock is fairly eclectic and what appear to be 1940s/50s standard houses can sometimes belay the suprisingly old bones underneath. On a few streets - particularly the hillier ones - some vestiges of what existed remain:

https://goo.gl/maps/NWBQYNAHTJaEFp2r6



The Earlscourt area was perhaps the most well known, but shack towns more or less encircled Toronto at the time, and there was somewhat of a moral panic regarding this:









All of the above from the interesting article here: https://leslievillehistory.com/the-g...cktown-crisis/

The books "Toronto Sprawls" by Lawrence Solomon and "Unplanned Suburbs" by Richard Harris cover this part of Toronto's history in extreme detail, particularly the latter.

[jonny24]

Man, how are you guys defining "shack"? To me it seems at least 50% of these are too substantial to be called a shack.

[someone123]

I always kind of like this one in Halifax. RIP - it was torn down a few months ago (its neighbour to the left was torn down maybe 20 years ago, and that ugly parking garage lot used to have some small buildings on it).

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6453...7i16384!8i8192

I don't think this is a wooden shack but this little commercial building and the old house in behind with big setback are unusual for this area:

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6410...7i16384!8i8192