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David A said:
This is probably more an American thing. I believe the UK has row houses, although not all as attractive. Regardless, I agree we should get over it.

The space on the sides is small, so it is sort of wasted or not that functional. Filling that space could also give a bit more living space.
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A 50 foot lot (common width in mature neighbourhoods) can be subdivided for 2 skinnies. With side setbacks requiring 4 feet on either side for wasted space, a development of 2 skinnies requires 16 feet or just less than one third of the total frontage to be useless. So essentially, each skinny development could fit another full unit.

I'm imagining a world for infill where proper rowhouses are permitted and the massing is less obvious, thereby less of a concern to nearby residents with this simple change.

You could even build each of the 3 sites with a basement suit and garage suite and subdived into 3 legal lots for fee simple ownership.
 
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David A said:
This is probably more an American thing. I believe the UK has row houses, although not all as attractive. Regardless, I agree we should get over it.

The space on the sides is small, so it is sort of wasted or not that functional. Filling that space could also give a bit more living space.
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These spaces may be narrow but that doesn't mean they're completely useless. They will provide access from the front yard to the back (and vice versa) without having to haul things through the house (lawn mowers to snow shovels); they can provide a convenient service entry location for power and gas etc.; they can provide a convenient location for heat pumps and a/c units; and they are typically used to accommodate surface storm water drainage flows.

From a building perspective, these spaces also provide space to vent exhaust from kitchen ranges and household dryers, fireplaces, and to vent fresh air into attic spaces to prevent mould growth due to inadequate circulation patterns from relying on mechanical systems alone.

It's also worth noting that typical UK row housing is 30-35 feet in depth while Canadian narrow lot homes are typically 40-50 feet in depth and can easily reach 50-60 feet on deeper lots.
 
kcantor said:
These spaces may be narrow but that doesn't mean they're completely useless. They will provide access from the front yard to the back (and vice versa) without having to haul things through the house (lawn mowers to snow shovels); they can provide a convenient service entry location for power and gas etc.; they can provide a convenient location for heat pumps and a/c units; and they are typically used to accommodate surface storm water drainage flows.

From a building perspective, these spaces also provide space to vent exhaust from kitchen ranges and household dryers, fireplaces, and to vent fresh air into attic spaces to prevent mould growth due to inadequate circulation patterns from relying on mechanical systems alone.

It's also worth noting that typical UK row housing is 30-35 feet in depth while Canadian narrow lot homes are typically 40-50 feet in depth and can easily reach 50-60 feet on deeper lots.
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Interesting points. Considering ventilation would make designing for rowhomes difficult wrt placing kitchens and laundry.
I always understood the side setback was for fire safety based on intuition, not sure if that's accurate. I know the fire code requires a flame proof wall between units which would be expensive.
Would be still worth exploring how regular infill might benefit or hurt from wall-to-wall construction.
 
Receivership sale of the Catch of the Week property. Advertising development potential.

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mcr said:
This better not mean the end of my barber! But the site does have a lot of potential, and needs an infusion of cash & some love (especially the exterior & parking).
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Consider Gentlemen’s Barbershop in Bonnie Doon. Just a heads up your credit card/debit statement will show “Gentlemen’s Bar”.
 
Edmcowboy11 said:
And I either missed it or forgot, what's happening here?
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Here's my understanding: it was bought by (I think) the brother of the owner of Leonardo's Café, who was planning to turn it into a wellness center. My guess is that the owner discovered it was in worse condition than he thought, because a demolition application went up a few weeks ago.

In any case, now it's gone.

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At least the Chenier-Beauchamp Residence down the street is being renovated...

20250926_143629.jpg
 
constance_chlore said:
Here's my understanding: it was bought by (I think) the brother of the owner of Leonardo's Café, who was planning to turn it into a wellness center. My guess is that the owner discovered it was in worse condition than he thought, because a demolition application went up a few weeks ago.

In any case, now it's gone.

At least the Chenier-Beauchamp Residence down the street is being renovated...
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It is too bad this was one of the few areas with a number of houses from this era. I hope whatever is built will fit in with the older houses there.

I feel we need a historic area designation for such areas both to protect what is there and to ensure if something has to be replaced it fits in and does not look like a suburban monstrosity.
 
Many of the brick resource houses also have brick foundations and they, in particular, take a beating in Edmonton's climate if they are not well maintained. The two storey Victorian that I owned in the Boyle Street area had a complete failure in one corner of the basement where water had gotten in and when the wall froze up in winters (prior to my ownership) the bricks dissembled and the structure failed. I had to remover them by hand (while I shored up the main floor) and then replace them with new salvaged bricks from another demo site -- extremely laborious undertaking -- since I did the work myself it was time consuming but not out-of-pocket; if I had had to hire someone, well that would have been mega-bucks.
 
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