Whether you live in a Victorian-inspired home, a shoebox house, a brick triplex or a 1950s bungalow, your home has its own history and personality that needs to be considered when renovating. Here are brief descriptions of some residential architectural styles that can help you learn more about your home!
The Victorian influence
Embellished with false mansards, dormers, gables, bay windows, elaborate balconies or turrets, many Montreal facades express the taste for the picturesque that characterized the exuberant Victorian era. Around 1880, the materials needed to build windows, doors, staircases, cornices, dormers, mouldings, etc. were already being produced in industry. American factories even sold these elements by catalogue! Victorian-influenced houses can be found in Plateau-Mont-Royal, Lower Westmount and Saint-Henri.
Shoeboxes
Adopting a more modest stylistic language, the "shoebox" type houses appeared in the Montreal landscape at the beginning of the 20th century. They are small, single-storey, single-family homes with little clearance from the ground, often without a basement, and with flat or barely sloping roofs. They are called "shoeboxes" because of their simple, cubic shape. There are several examples in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie, Villeray and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
The Montreal triplex
A hybrid between the English terrace and the Scottish flat may be the origin of the Montreal triplex. A building with three civic addresses, the typical triplex was often built in series by an owner-developer or contractor. In the 1920s, many triplexes adopted dark brick facades with artificial stone inserts around the doors, windows and cornices and wall sconces with symbols such as the beaver, maple leaf or geometric shapes. Triplexes are very common in Montreal, especially in the neighbourhoods of Verdun, Plateau-Mont-Royal or Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie.
Triplex on Drolet Street, Villeray, 2018, Montreal, Héritage Montréal
The 1950s house
In Quebec, the term "bungalow" refers to a post-World War II suburban single-family home. Inspired by pre-war cottages, this type of house became the symbol of the modern suburb. Some of these buildings have significant heritage value and are considered significant witnesses to the development of modern housing in Quebec. This type of residence is common in Mercier, Tétreaultville, Mont-Royal, Saint-Laurent as well as in suburban municipalities such as Longueuil or Saint-Lambert, to name only these neighbourhoods or cities.
To learn more, don't miss the Discover Montreal Homes session, presented by David Hanna as part of the Lessons in Renovation series starting October 26, 2021!
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Héritage Montréal a proud partner of the Ville de Montréal.
2 comments
I'm a bit annoyed by the use of the photograph of the false mansards on the victorian houses in Square Saint-Louis. These woodwork and slate tiles in various colours should not be shown as an example.