Cities that most radically depart from and most closely resemble "typical" US demos

[ue]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Chicago has a pretty small share of prewar rowhouses. I wouldn't say that's a standard Chicago vernacular.

Philly and Baltimore are really the rowhouse metros.

Fine, the terminology would best be described as human-scaled pre-war multi-family housing. They all function similarly.

In Montreal it's the triplex
In Chicago it's the 3-flat
In New York it's the brownstone
In Philly and Baltimore it's the rowhome

Better?

[Docere]

And in Boston the triple decker.

[ue]

Originally Posted by badrunner

Yeah that's kind of the point. Every city is distinct but Toronto is no more distinct from US cities than US cities are distinct from each other. So it doesn't really stand out as a unique city to us, except that it just happens to be Canadian. It's just another city in the mix.

Ok, but that's not how the discussion came across. It came across as Toronto could be anywhere in the USA because it's generic. I would also still argue that there are distinct Canadianisms to the vernacular in Toronto that give it away as not being in the US, even though the city does clearly look North American. Nobody is mistaking Toronto for London or Istanbul.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by ue

Fine, the terminology would best be described as human-scaled pre-war multi-family housing. They all function similarly.

In Montreal it's the triplex
In Chicago it's the 3-flat
In New York it's the brownstone
In Philly and Baltimore it's the rowhome

Better?

Except in Chicago you can walk between them... if you turn sideways.

[jd3189]

I’m not sure Toronto could be confused for another North American city. It’s even distinct from its close cousins in the Great Lakes, let alone any other American city.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Except in Chicago you can walk between them... if you turn sideways.

chicago has hundreds of thousands of those narrow passageways between flat buildings, known locally as "gangways". it's a building code thing from the Great Fire back in 1871, after which the fire department deemed it was important to be able to to have its firefighters get from the front of a building to the back of a building (or vice-versa) without having to go through the building (as in the case of solid party-wall row housing).

here's our gangway, it's 36" wide at the narrow part:




some of the urban purists around here despise them for breaking up the street wall into distinct buildings, but chicago's ubiquitous gangways do lend a certain amount of distinctiveness to the city's urban residential vernacular architecture, for better or worse.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Oh gawd that looks soooo familiar!

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by ue

The third photo shows the very distinctive Mid-Atlantic rowhome vernacular that DC is known for. I'd immediately place it there, or perhaps Baltimore. It doesn't look like Philly or New York, let alone Montreal. The pastel colours mixed with turret/bays is a DC archetype.

Have you ever been to Baltimore? The Queen Anne architecture looks nothing like Baltimore (where I went to school). They are row houses as there are row houses in Baltimore, sure, but the architecture is very different and very much more like what was posted from Canada (the major different I see between Washington and Canada is some paint).

These are typical Baltimore row houses--they are closer to Federal style than Victorian:


https://welcometobaltimorehon.com/a-...imore-rowhouse

[ue]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

(the major different I see between Washington and Canada is some paint).

The typical Toronto and Montreal vernaculars here do not look identical to the Washington vernacular save some paint. The triplex is a completely different housing format, for starters. The morphology is more similar to Toronto, but the bay windows in Toronto aren't as curvy and DC lacks the sharp gable Toronto's bay-and-gable is known for.

These are typical Baltimore row houses--they are closer to Federal style than Victorian:

Fair enough! I haven't been to Baltimore and have seen photos like the one you shared. I guessed that there might be some neighbourhoods with DC-like rowhomes but obviously was mistaken.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

For brevity's sake I omitted the "except for the spiral stairs" part.

To be honest, what I was thinking was that streetscape is as ugly as the alleys of the Near Northside of Chicago. My sister lived on this street years ago and the backs of these triplexes remind me of that photo of Rue Nicolet.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9418...4!8i8192?hl=en

I will admit that it's a bit of an exaggeration.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9423...4!8i8192?hl=en

I (and perhaps most people) wouldn't describe that Rue Nicolet streetscape as "ugly". The streetview we saw had leafless trees, but when the trees are leafed out, or even in the winter with fresh snow, it's IMO a classically attractive urban Montreal streetscape.

And those comparatives from Chicago are actually the "backsides" of buildings. In this case, yes Montreal does have some similarity to Chicago. These areas are often referred to as "Balconville" by Montrealers.

But in terms of the frontside, as UE said the vernacular is pretty unique to Montreal and Quebec.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I (and perhaps most people) wouldn't describe that Rue Nicolet streetscape as "ugly".

I think Avenue Valois, just one block over, is a better example.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5474...7i16384!8i8192

I personally still don't find the majority of those houses to be all that attractive, chacun à son goût, though a few do pop out as nicely done. Then again, Google Streetview notoriously makes neighborhoods look worse in all but the most beautiful of places.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

I think Avenue Valois, just one block over, is a better example.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5474...7i16384!8i8192

looks nice enough, if a bit plain, to me.

but the trash cans on all of the porches certainly aren't helping the aesthetics.

these blocks appear to have service alleys in back, so what gives with all of the trash cans on the front porches?