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flar

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Landsdale
Hamilton, Ontario

Landsdale is an old working class neighbourhood in Hamilton's inner city. The neighbourhood features a great variety of late
Victorian townhouses packed tightly together. Landsdale is largely intact and has a relatively impressive (for being mostly houses)
population density of 7,030 per sq km over approximately sixty blocks.

Satellite view:
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King Street East
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Tiny cottages
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There are also some larger houses

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but most are regular houses

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King Street again
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A few apartments here and there, but this is a neighbourhood of houses for the most part
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The density comes from the houses, they're really packed in
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A narrow little street
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Some odd looking flat roofed houses
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There are some rowhouses in Landsdale, but they don't predominate
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This is a neat looking little row
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Barton Street runs through the north end of Landsdale
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Some little houses
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Not all the streetscapes are uniform
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There is a large Carribean population in this neighbourhood
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Detailed brickwork, masonry and other details abound in this neighbourhood
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Plenty of churches, typical for old working class neighbourhoods
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General Hospital
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New heart and stroke research centre under construction
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Some areas have a hodgepodge of early housing
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A few more larger houses
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More rowhousing
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Big semi-detached
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Nice shots. Do you emphasize the red in them? There's so much gritty character oozing out of the Hammer - I can just imagine how vibrant streets like Barton might have been on a hot summer afternoon in 1950, with union men sauntering home from the mills, blowing their paychecks on pitchers of Stock Ale. Although I know that in the US they ploughed neighbourhoods like these under, in Canada we only did a little better - letting them fade away into the kingdom of Giant Tigers and Delta Bingos.
 
where have i seen something like this before in toronto?


00068.jpg
 
A lot of places :)

There's a complex right on Yonge and Lawrence.


Hamilton and Toronto have a lot in common, i guess that makes sense. These neighborhoods feel so familiar even though I've never been anywhere near them :)
 
Nice shots. Do you emphasize the red in them? There's so much gritty character oozing out of the Hammer - I can just imagine how vibrant streets like Barton might have been on a hot summer afternoon in 1950, with union men sauntering home from the mills, blowing their paychecks on pitchers of Stock Ale. Although I know that in the US they ploughed neighbourhoods like these under, in Canada we only did a little better - letting them fade away into the kingdom of Giant Tigers and Delta Bingos.

I use the cloudy white balance on my camera, so the colours are a bit warmer than if I use auto white balance. Hamilton's brick is bright orange-red in colour.

Until 1951, there were streetcars running up and down Barton and King. They were replaced with trolleys. Also around this time, King, Wilson, Cannon, Victoria, Wentworth and Wellington were converted to 3-5 lane one way roads. The last trolleys were removed from King St. in 1987 and Barton in 1992. The working class was lured to greener pastures on the mountain and in Stoney Creek. This is the basic recipe for ruining a neighbourhood.

The result is the big old houses get divided into low rent apartments and the streetfront retail goes out of business because there is no longer a population with disposable income to support it. The population density is still there, but the income and lifestyle of many residents does not include shopping at independent stores and boutiques. Tim Horton's does the trick for lunch and coffee.

Still, it is getting harder to find grit in the neighbourhood lately, there have been a lot of restorations in the last couple years. I've changed my estimation of Landsdale, I think the housing stock is strong enough that eventually it will come back, and eventually the retail on King and Barton along these stretches will come back too, but that is many years off. The poverty will be pushed further east where the housing has less potential. Neighbourhoods like Central and Corktown will probably experience some level of gentrification before Landsdale though.






Hamilton and Toronto have a lot in common, i guess that makes sense. These neighborhoods feel so familiar even though I've never been anywhere near them :)

The form of old neighbourhoods is about the same in Hamilton and Toronto. Streetcar neighbourhoods with two or two-and-a-half storey townhouses and semi-detached lining the side streets, main streets lined with retail. Strangely, the houses are distinctly different in the two cities.
 
I knew I had an example of the kind of restorations going on in Landsdale.

Here is a shot taken in 2006
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Same building last week:
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Hamilton is getting cleaned up one house at a time...
 
Wow, stunning improvement. Just goes to show, it's better not to bulldoze until you know the full potential.
 
Good Landsdale pics...another interesting section of Hamilton!

Flar: Good pics throughout of the Landsdale section of Hamilton and again I like the brick and stonework used - built to last!

I used to live near Philadelphia in a town named LANSDALE in Montgomery County,PA - zip 19446 - from 1993 until mid 2000. LANDSDALE was the most common mis-spelling of the name - I now see a place named LANDSDALE here indeed does exist! Borough of Lansdale,PA info here:
www.lansdale.org/
This town-being an old central-core railroad town it is-has some similar brick structures as well as rowhouses that could be compared to its LANDSDALE namesake. - Insight from Long Island Mike -
 
I found out that this neighbourhood is named after Robert Land (originally of New York), one of the earliest settlers of Hamilton--hence Landsdale with a "d".
 
Landsdale vs. Lansdale...

Flar: Lansdale,PA was named after Phillip Lansdale Fox - Chief surveyor of the North Penn Rail Road back in the 1800s-which runs right thru the center of town-today this rail line is owned by SEPTA which operates Regional (Commuter) rail thru town S to Philadelphia and N to Doylestown,Bucks County. Until the early 1980s there was thru service to the Allentown/Bethlehem area about 30 miles N. Lansdale is about 25 miles N of Philadelphia.

I think it is interesting that both names were for "founding fathers" of sorts.
Insight from LI MIKE
 
Landsdale

I am very, very familiar with this neighbourhood. I went to High School for 5 years of my life here, even though I lived in the suburbs (Free Bus Passes is quite the incentive to attend a HS). ...you didn't get any shots of either Cathedral Boys OR the New Cathedral :(

This neighbourhood is probably one of the worst neighbourhoods in Hamilton (next to Beasly) in terms of Grit, poverty, petty crime (ie: prostitution, vandalism, public intoxication, etc). It's prodominantly known as a Hooker District, tho :( And I aint talkin hot Jarvis & Gerrard hookers, I'm talking old rusty crackhead hookers :s

Recently (all within the last 4-weeks-or-so), there have been a couple targetted drive-by shootings in this neighbourhood. The crime aspect certainly has increased during these Tough Economic Times in Hamilton.

All in all, I liked this neighbourhood. Didn't love it; but sure knew how to tolerate it. If you're ever in the area, be sure to stop @ DeRosa's at Wilson & Sanford. Fantastic Pizzas, Sandwiches, Tiramisui (sp?) OH MY!!!
 

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