S U B U R B I A ! - Page 4

flar · #61 Posted **Apr 13, 2008, 1:09 PM**

The pics show the outermost suburban areas of Hamilton, almost everything shown here was built in the last few years, a lot of it in the last few months. There are a bunch of older suburban areas that look like the pictures Cambridgite posted--you'll find the mostly vinyl houses on Hamilton Mountain, and in Waterdown and Stoney Creek.

I focused on middle class suburbs here, staying out of the rich areas and gated subdivisions. I also stayed out of Burlington, where most of the suburban development has occurred over the past few decades. Burlington is "full" now so the new developments have spread south of Hamilton where there are two new expressways (The Linc and RHVP) and to Waterdown, which is seeing explosive growth.

New homes in Dundas are generally all brick; Dundas demands a slightly higher quality I guess. Ancaster is one of Canada's wealthiest communities and there are some really nice homes there but also a new crop of cheap stucco houses for people who want to pretend they're rich. The ugly, pretensious house RePinion pointed out is one of them.

Some of the wealthier Ancaster places might look even more like Dallas 'burbs:

Here's one of the wannabe stucco houses in Ancaster:

And one gate for the hell of it:

miketoronto · #62 Posted **Apr 13, 2008, 1:47 PM**

How rich are suburban Hamilton residents? Those houses are huge.

USDollar · #63 Posted **Apr 13, 2008, 4:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

It's pretty strange for me seeing a generic strip mall filled with generic Canadian strip mall stores. Where is the Dress Barn and the Kohl's and all the other craptastic stuff? It almost looks like a movie set to me. lol

Canadian strip mall stores are way different than American ones (although i'm sure they look the same on the inside).
You really captured overdeveloped suburbia, although they actually look a lot better here than they do down here in the states.

Sekkle · #64 Posted **Apr 13, 2008, 6:22 PM**

Very accurate thread title!

Great photos. If anyone ever needed a description of what suburbia looked like, I'd send them to this thread...

DC83 · #65 Posted **Apr 13, 2008, 7:14 PM**

I don't mind the actual set up of this house. It reminds me of the area between The Delta & Rosedale hoods in Hamilton where the houses have laneways w/ a detached gerage hidden behind. It could work...

re: Brick vs Vinyl (let me just say THANK GOD Hamilton has it's own brickyard). If I lived in a development full of vinyl siding, I'd go mental! It's so institutional... not to mention disgustingly ugly! But in NEW developments, it's often the home buyer that picks out all the finishes INCL. exterior finishes.
This fits in perfectly with the whole Wannabe Rich 'Ancastarians'... so they spend WAY too much money on a crap house in Meadowlands, but cut back the expense when it comes to finishes... so they end up w/ a house that's 90% stucco/10% vinyl. Welcome to the Suburbs, est. 1950's, destroyed 2040's (when there is no more oil).

boden · #66 Posted **Apr 13, 2008, 11:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by miketoronto

How rich are suburban Hamilton residents? Those houses are huge.

filthy, stinking, rotten rich...and some are even richer than that.

krudmonk · #67 Posted **Apr 14, 2008, 12:43 AM**

I can't agree with those who've said that this beats what is offered south of the border. Maybe Bay Area suburbs are way above average, but I'd take the ones here over that barren wasteland.

BnaBreaker · #68 Posted **Apr 14, 2008, 2:19 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by krudmonk

I can't agree with those who've said that this beats what is offered south of the border. Maybe Bay Area suburbs are way above average, but I'd take the ones here over that barren wasteland.

Actually, in my opinion Bay Area suburbs are way above average. lol

raisethehammer · #69 Posted **Apr 14, 2008, 2:50 AM**

Ancaster sucks....those stucco homes are so lame.
thanks flar. I guess.

matt602 · #70 Posted **Apr 14, 2008, 3:18 AM**

Now that' Barn fresh!

(another nice series flar)

tayser · #71 Posted **Apr 14, 2008, 9:48 AM**

Drive through ATM... holy fuckorama!

JackStraw · #72 Posted **Apr 14, 2008, 2:57 PM**

Its cool and trendy to hate suburbia now!

themapman · #73 Posted **Apr 14, 2008, 5:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Where's the garage? I can't tell. I think it needs to be more pronounced.

LOL on all the Dallas comparisons - the few times I've ventured north of LBJ I've been floored by the size of some of the subdivisions!

MonkeyRonin · #74 Posted **Apr 14, 2008, 8:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackStraw

Its cool and trendy to hate suburbia now!

When has it not been cool?

Texas Tuff · #75 Posted **Apr 15, 2008, 6:45 PM**

As many have stated, you have captured "suburbia" very well in these pics. I read an article a few days ago about builders here in the U.S. that was scary. With the current housing crisis here in the states many of the largest U.S. builders are planning on making the cookie-cutter houses even more bland and generic to cut down on construction costs. They stated in the article that options such as different exterior styles and interior options such as plumbing fixtures and appliances may be a thing of the past. Many builders are actually planning on building block after block of EXACTLY the same house right down to the identical floor plan, identical exterior, identical lowest cost fixtures and interiors, etc. We think it's bad now, a few years from now it could even be worse!