Building Styles

Belleville

With the postwar economic boom people were buying cars and thus had easy access to rapidly growing suburbs. Families wanted individual homes with modern conveniences.

The small windows and clean surfaces of the International style were replaced by façades with a variety of surface finishes and large picture windows. The roof generally sloped further on one side than another to incorporate a carport or roofed terrace. This house has an angel stone base, brick and cedar paneling all on the same facade.

Hamilton

On large apartment buildings, the fenestration is understated, and balconies are generally large, blocky and colourful. The ornate porticos of earlier styles are replaced by a "butterfly" or inverted wing portico that encompasses space for a car.

Mid-century Modern styles are self-consciously free of any historical detail. Window surrounds are nonexistent. Doors are single pane and often sliding. Doors and windows are placed according to interior functional requirements and the comfort of the inhabitants as opposed to exterior design. Wall surfaces, lintels and sills are unadorned.

Dundas 1959

Designed by architect Lloyd Kyles, this won an award for the most innovative structural design in Ontario in 1959. The outside walls and spandrels were precast reinforced concrete sections with marble chips inserted in the precasting, Kyles' original idea. The reversed arch concrete roof was poured in place - in situ.

The population boom of the 50s, 60s, and 70s created a need for many such schools in and around Ontario. This is one of the finest.

Sault Ste. Marie

Like the other Mid-century Modern examples, this façade is compiled from a variety of textures and finish materials. There are no sidelights or transom on the door. The large picture window in the front is equipped with a sliding component for air flow.

Like the Prairie school designs, the fireplace in this house is in the center of the building. While the Prairie style was the innovative style for the wealthy at the turn of the century, the Mid-century Modern was the style for individuals and families in the postwar era.

Thunder Bay

The dynamics of the family home had changed drastically. In 1900, the large home had servants to stoke the fire for coal or wood burning furnaces. By 1950, architects were looking into solar heating and power- saving alternatives. As a result, many Mid-century Modern style homes have floor to ceiling windows on the south side of the house. The large overhang was calculated to produce shade in the summer and a maximum of sunlight in the winter. Window designs were built on rectangular patterns as opposed to the floral or circular patterns of earlier styles.

Thunder Bay

Mid-century Modern design was a break from all previous traditions. The styles were asymmetrical to provide a direct contrast to earlier classical designs. This house has a sharper angle on the roof line to incorporate a carport on a different level.

Again like the Prairie style, these designs were adapted to fit the natural flow of the land on which they were to be placed as opposed to being imposed on the landscape.

Notice that the large picture window is placed on the sunny side of the building, and that the overhang will provide shade in the summer.

Thunder Bay

A more dynamic façade allows for many different light sources. For privacy, the windows admitting light facing the driveway are clerestory; light enters the building but no one can see in. The central fireplace cuts the design in two. The entrance or public area would have a fireplace opening and the private area would have an opening on the other side. Like the original Prairie designs, this is all on one level, a long rambling floor plan that opens out onto an interlocking hallways. The exterior materials are all natural: cedar rather than painted wood and natural coloured brick.

Kitchener

This Mid-century Modern house is in a more upscale neighborhood and has a much more dynamic façade. The roof slope is still very low, and there are many different materials in the same façade. Vertical wood paneling is found with large plates of unadorned window glass and stone. No window surrounds are present.

The two sidelights on either side of the of the Neo - Classical door are replaced by two sidelights on the same side of a Mid-century Modern door.

Vaughan

The façade of this building is almost entirely of glass. There is no symmetry; rather the building seems to flow up and down like the local hills. Most of the windows are fixed and the mullions are in geometric patterns. There is no ornament or extraneous detail.

Because the windows are not facing south, and the house is surrounded by mature trees, the roof overhang is minimal.

Ancaster

The slightly sloping, off- center roof and alternating vertical bands of brick and windows mark this as a Mid-century Modern home. The placement of the garage also makes it a Side Split. Unlike some of the others, the windows in this are all rectangular, rather than following the slope of the roof. The doorway is simple, as are the windows. The roof cornice or, in this case, fascia, is large but not molded.

Vaughan

This Mid-century Modern house is nicely nestled in the countryside. The front façade is a long bank of windows that are custom fit to match the undulations of the roof. The windows are framed with plain, clean, white boards that create a "moderne" pattern. The exterior walls are made of orange brick, and the other trim and finish is yellow, creating a bright, cheery look.