Chickensoup

Hi everyone,

Forgive me if this topic has been covered elsewhere in the forum, but i could not find it.

I have been itching to talk about one aspect of Canadian life that doesn't seem to get much coverage in the forums from what I see at least.

It is something i feel needs to be covered for people who are about to move here.

That aspect is "housing"; more specifically, "character".

I have travelled quite a bit around the country, from the east to the west side. I have been to all the major cities in Canada.

Apart from Quebec, i just can't help but feel that the average house, although much better value / bigger than in the UK, is actually more likely to be totally without any character or charm.

Not for a second would I swap my canadian house for my UK house, but our new home is totally characterless! And so many others are too. I'm not saying every house is characterless in Canada. Just that an awful lot are.

Driving around Vancouver, a lot of the residential areas are total eyesores blotching the totally eye-popping landscape. What a shame! A lot of houses are simply shacks. (let's not include North-west or West Vancouver in this...!)

Even in Calgary, a lot of houses, although big and full of mod-cons, look like large IKEA sets that you assemble yourself, made out of LEGO or something.

In contrast, we have the architecture of Montreal or Quebec city where you have some real old world charm and BRICK, not plastic weatherboarding or Stucco (= icing sugar pasted onto plywood). Our house has Stucco. Yellow Stucco. Mmmmmm nice.

Put it this way. when we watch any TV filmed in Greenwich Village (Manhattan), we start to yearn the old brick and stone buildings....

Anyway, interesting to see what people think on this highly controversial matter ().

Coming next week: "Why does everyone need to have an 8 litre, 22ft. long truck in Canada?!?!?!?"

Almost Canadian

I really don't care. Had I wanted character I would have moved to Oxford.

I fail to see how "Coronation Street" is preferable to the suburbs over here. Stonework and cobwebs are overrated IMHO.

There are too many people with little willies (in Calgary anyway). Remove them and 95% of the trucks would go

fledermaus

I disagree, and present this as evidence that character and variety exist in Ontario, though rare in the GTA

http://www.ontarioarchitecture.com/index.html

JonboyE

I agree to some extent. In the new subdivisions they are throwing up all over the Lower Mainland the houses are pretty much of a standard, identikit design. I am sure it is cheaper to build them that way. If you go to the monied places, say West Van or Vancouver Westside, you see much more individuality in design and construction.

I live in an area where most houses were built in the late 60s or early 70s. They seem to have more of their own character. This may be because of they way they were built then, or just the passage of time. Possibly the latter as much as anything. In time, people individualize their houses and yards/gardens and this does much to break up the monotony.

Alan2005

A lot of the reason Canadian buildings look the same is simply because they've not been doing it long so you don't see that many different period styles. Add then when you build all the houses on plots laid out using monolithic straight lines you do get that lego block feeling.

Anyway, you could say the same about new houses in the UK; those built in the last 20 years all seem to be identikit crap boxes with arrow slits instead of windows (windows so tiny that I'm surprised the occupants don't get rickets from vitamin D deficiency)

deenailz

ooh our house has character !!! has a dark wood clad basement and 1940's wallpaper !!!
well the bloody landloard thinks it has character anyway , lmao ... i would kill for a house that came outta ikea haha

dazzlerdaz

Where abouts in TO are you ?

scrubbedexpat091

Older neighborhoods will have more character as they were generally built one by one by the original owners.

Now most are built by developers and as such developers want to save as much money as possible, and what better way to do that but to basically build everyhouse the same.

Character look for old neighborhoods which in some citys may not be the preffered area, but doesn't mean its bad.

dboy

What about the endless rows of terrace houses, 1950's council estates and row after row of identical housing estates that represent much of any typical city in the UK. Sure there are exceptions but - really ....

I think you are going through some nostalgia withdrawal.

dbd33

I don't think that's quite fair. To my mind moving to Canada is all about the acquisition of consumer durables, having more stuff or, if you will, a better lifestyle expressed in material terms. People who stop to consider that, although they have more square footage than in the UK, it's in a housing project where all the fragile buildings look the same and none of the neighbours speak the same language, might legitimately pause to consider what they have done to themselves. I wouldn't want to be posidrive for all the tea in China.

dboy

I hardly have more square footage nor more material items - i live in Vancouver after all. The thread was about houses or more precisely the look of them, not " oh my god my neighbuors don't speak English." Besides, there are many that move to Canada who lived in so called housing projects - or rather sub standard, uninspiring homes - in the UK.

My comment was specifically reference to 'longing for a certain type of home' likely fueld by memories of the UK, nothing more, nothing less.

Chickensoup

i agree with a lot of the replies!

very true is the fact that the UK is not without its fair share of ugly housing estates in most towns, houses that all look the same etc...

also true is the fact that there are many nice houses in Canada too.

But i feel that if you take most cities in canada, you are more likely to see a higher ratio of "flat pack" houses than houses with character.

I have read elsewhere on this forum the remarks by newcomers who notice the "strange houses" and the reply was something to the effect of "get over it".

Another comment i read that is true is that much of canada is relatively "new" and so you will have less variety of building styles or eras (victorian / Edwardian etc) apart from on the east side of the country which was populated earlier - hence my "except for quebec" comment.

I must reiterate that my posting is based on an impression rather than based on hard statistical fact. It's an impression based on my experience of living in Vancouver and Calgary. We have noticed that, for example, in calgary as it expands, the newer estates are getting increasingly high density and also more boxy, and "samey" without many trees or anything. Not saying I would rather live in a Coronation street house though....! Canadian houses are FAR better value.

G77

Some houses with character in Windsor :-

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=walk...%20house&w=all

jad n rich

[QUOTE=Chickensoup;7781807]".


Anyway, interesting to see what people think on this highly controversial matter ().

[QUOTE]


I was shocked at much of the housing in Calgary ( and know there is plenty of that stuff in vancouver too). Rows of gray housing, jammed right up against more gray housing, windows and decks just feet from neighbours windows and decks. Estates where dogs were tied up outside in obvious distress and cold, certainly not what you would expect if your thinking space and privacy.

However there are beautiful homes too, Bragg creek homes were stunning, green, large, spacious, however the area for teenagers would send them screaming

Vancouver mates live on 5 acres, running with deer and horses, old house full of character.

Like anywhere the gray and grim stuff is most peoples budget the beautiful acerage homes come in at least double that, but thats ke the same anywhere really.

dboy

[QUOTE=jad n rich;7783937][QUOTE=Chickensoup;7781807]".


Anyway, interesting to see what people think on this highly controversial matter ().

There is very little land in vancouver and lots are very expensive - the lots of land argument doesn't apply here. A standard 30 by 120 lot on the west side is around 800,000.