Canadian Housing Styles and Options

[lio45]

Wow, that's fascinating, about Vancouver.

First time I hear the words "pink stucco monster"...

(Fascinating in a "OMG that's horrible!!!" way.)


You might agree with this guy's take on it...

http://www.troymedia.com/2012/10/14/...ifestyle-poor/

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by lio45

Wow, that's fascinating, about Vancouver.

First time I hear the words "pink stucco monster"...

(Fascinating in a "OMG that's horrible!!!" way.)


You might agree with this guy's take on it...

http://www.troymedia.com/2012/10/14/...ifestyle-poor/

It was a decent article, but I didn't like the way he talked about dense living. Made it seem like it's not even an option and that it's preposterous that people should live in them.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

It was a decent article, but I didn't like the way he talked about dense living. Made it seem like it's not even an option and that it's preposterous that people should live in them.

I believe his point was that you're going to be stuck trying to raise your kids in a "dense living" hen cage while you could be living in a McMansion for much less, in most areas of the country.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by lio45

I believe his point was that you're going to be stuck trying to raise your kids in a "dense living" hen cage while you could be living in a McMansion for much less, in most areas of the country.

Yeah, I can appreciate that, just don't call it a hen cage. Besides, Vancouver prices will never be like the rest of the country because of our geographical constraints.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

GlassCity, can you please StreetView me a pink stucco monster? I'm really curious to see what it's like.

Here's a bunch in my neighbourhood. They're not all pink, but they definitely are big stucco monsters

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.10675...vrLCeO-wzA!2e0

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh God, I hate that style of house. Thanks for sharing! We have some here, but thankfully not many.

It looks like people are living in their garages. What's the lifestyle like? Do they use the garage as a main entrance? Set up their lawn chairs in front of it? I don't understand.

This is our worst of the worst. In any given neighbourhood, most homes still have detached garages or at least have their visual impact minimized. But we do have a handful of garage-first houses.





And there's one WTF in downtown St. John's, on The Dardanelles:

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Oh God, I hate that style of house. Thanks for sharing! We have some here, but thankfully not many.

It looks like people are living in their garages. What's the lifestyle like? Do they use the garage as a main entrance? Set up their lawn chairs in front of it? I don't understand.

I live in that style of house asshole! But yeah I hate it too lol

Yeah, the garage is definitely the main entrance. It's very rare to see people actually walk up their driveway to go inside through the main door, or exit this way. Unless they park their cars outside. Normally you just drive right in and enter your house from inside the garage.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say you don't understand though. It's just a typical suburban setting, where people drive if they need anything, and spend the rest of their time inside. For example, the walk to the nearest retail (strip mall) is half an hour from here. The garage is front and centre so it's convenient to just drive right into your house, as opposed to going into a back alley, something I didn't even know existed until I started seeing photos on here.

Now I'm confused! How do suburbs look in St. John's? I assumed this was the standard model everywhere.

[SignalHillHiker]

I went and got you some examples (edited my post above). And when I say worst of the worst, I mean regarding garages. They're nice suburbs. Our more typical suburbs just don't have as prominent garages as those examples.

Normal suburbs either have no garages:



Or generally more decently-placed ones:

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

It looks like people are living in their garages. What's the lifestyle like? Do they use the garage as a main entrance? Set up their lawn chairs in front of it? I don't understand.

For a few years I lived in Ajax - a typical suburban Toronto city. When we first moved there, one of the oddest things we noticed right away was seeing people sitting in chairs in their garage, just hanging out, maybe having a drink.

I grew up in a suburban area of Hamilton, but never saw that. Same in the neighbourhood in southwest Toronto where I lived a couple of years.

Maybe it was because fewer of the houses in Ajax had porches. I don't know.

[GlassCity]

Lots, maybe even a majority, of people use parking lots simply as giant storage closets

[khabibulin]

Actually, they have friends and family over to enjoy their huge backyards. Everone sits out on the deck chatting, drinking and enjoying a BBQ by the gazebo, pool and hot tub, while the kids run around on the grass, playing with their friends. I know that is a sterotype, but it is also a lifestyle that I very much enjoy!

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Oh God, I hate that style of house. Thanks for sharing! We have some here, but thankfully not many.

It looks like people are living in their garages. What's the lifestyle like? Do they use the garage as a main entrance? Set up their lawn chairs in front of it? I don't understand.

This is our worst of the worst. In any given neighbourhood, most homes still have detached garages or at least have their visual impact minimized. But we do have a handful of garage-first houses.





And there's one WTF in downtown St. John's, on The Dardanelles:

[lio45]

Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to live in a 600 sq ft hen cage?

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by khabibulin

Actually, they have friends and family over to enjoy their huge backyards. Everone sits out on the deck chatting, drinking and enjoying a BBQ by the gazebo, pool and hot tub, while the kids run around on the grass, playing with their friends. I know that is a sterotype, but it is also a lifestyle that I very much enjoy!

Yeah, there are definitely pros and cons to both urban and suburban living. You definitely lose the scene you described, but I'd question how often stuff like that happens. I don't know if hosting dinners once a month would overrule living in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe we should have a Canada-wide housing choices thread, similar to the one Calgary has?

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by lio45

Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to live in a 600 sq ft hen cage?

I really don't see what's wrong with it. I'll admit I only experienced it for a very short time, and when I was very young, but 600 sq ft for one person is more than enough. The average Brit lives in a house which is 400 square feet/person. My house is huge, and it's so pointless. We have 3 rooms than people barely ever set foot in.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by lio45

Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to live in a 600 sq ft hen cage?

I prefer hen cages - assuming that phrase can also apply to our rowhouses. If I don't have to look both ways before stepping out my front door, I feel too suburban.

Originally Posted by khabibulin

Actually, they have friends and family over to enjoy their huge backyards. Everone sits out on the deck chatting, drinking and enjoying a BBQ by the gazebo, pool and hot tub, while the kids run around on the grass, playing with their friends. I know that is a sterotype, but it is also a lifestyle that I very much enjoy!

Yeah, I have a cousin who owns a house like the huge one in my first post, and my parents live on the street in the second photo of my follow-up post.

Backyard get-togethers are very common and hugely popular at both. You get that with rowhouses too, but there's no privacy. The party stays in the kitchen, while the outside is for smoking, quieter conversation, etc.

And you can't have fires in St. John's, but you can in the suburbs.

[LeftCoaster]

If you want some pink stucco monsters, here's the real deal:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.22757...nNi9h1tdqA!2e0

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

For a few years I lived in Ajax - a typical suburban Toronto city. When we first moved there, one of the oddest things we noticed right away was seeing people sitting in chairs in their garage, just hanging out, maybe having a drink.

I grew up in a suburban area of Hamilton, but never saw that. Same in the neighbourhood in southwest Toronto where I lived a couple of years.

Maybe it was because fewer of the houses in Ajax had porches. I don't know.

Why wouldn't those people sit in the back on their deck or even on the grass, instead of in their garages? Is it because in the backyard you can't watch the world (people) go by?

[Trevor3]

A lot of the homes in the newest subdivisions have the garage out in front of the house back home. I know of a couple that don't even have forward facing windows on the first floor, just a double garage and a front door set way back beside it. Very few people, if any, actually park in their garage there. They tend to be used as workshops, storage spaces, or party spaces. For example, my parents garage is contains a BBQ, dining table, dart board, a full range of tools for several different trades, and is about 6 inches higher than the driveway, which means you need to put down a ramp to actually drive into it.

In 10 years since it was built there has only been a car in the garage twice, both times because I was doing bodywork on my vehicle. People who do park in their garages tend to reserve the space for a classic vehicle or some sort of seasonal car, FWIW that doesn't mean anything fancy, it could be a 2-door Civic that doesn't get the job done in the winter.

There are also some people that have 2 garages, one attached and one detached. Attached becomes quasi-outdoor living space and detached is essentially a tool shed for backyard mechanics.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

If you want some pink stucco monsters, here's the real deal:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.22757...nNi9h1tdqA!2e0

That doesn't seem as bad to me, but I suspect the interior is tackier than GlassCity's example.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Yeah, there are definitely pros and cons to both urban and suburban living. You definitely lose the scene you described, but I'd question how often stuff like that happens. I don't know if hosting dinners once a month would overrule living in the middle of nowhere.

In the summer months it's actually way more than once a month. From my observations, informally having a drink with friends, relatives or neighbours while the kids play outside is something people do several times a week.

We also have dinner as a family outside 4-5 times a week in the summer. Sometimes more.

And we have at least someone over almost every weekend (kids friends only one day, and a family or several families the other day), and when we don't, it's because we're over at someone else's who have the same set-up as us.