The birth of American Modernism

In January, I was in Manhattan where I stumbled across the house of American modernist architect William Lescaze.  Lescaze is one of the pioneers of modernism in America and was clearly a man well ahead of his time.  He designed and built this home in 1933.  It must have seemed completely out of place in the 30s when he built it, but today it looks very contemporary. 

Modern vs Traditional style house

Because we really like to make things difficult for ourselves, we asked our architect to do a concept drawing of the house in a more modern style so we could compare it to the more traditional, Arts and Crafts/Prairie style.

The only problem is that we like the new concept as much as the first.

Tell us what you think.

Below is the more traditional look, with the first picture the front of the house and the second of the rear of the house. (the picture of the front of the house was provided in black and white, so I had to colour it myself, which is why the colours don't exactly match)

and below is the more modern look. First, the front of the house. We both really like the asymetrical porch that she has designed. It's a bit difficult to tell on this picture, but the porch would be covered by a flat roof with wood sticking out the front so it looks sort of like a pergola. There is a wall at the front of the porch, about 3 feet wide or so, that screens the front door from the road. This provides a place to put things like strollers, snow shoves, etc. so that they are in front of the house, but not in sight from the road. The porch would be open at the side behind the wall. The cladding is a combination of stucco and wood siding. The siding would be by a company called Maibec, and they have a 25 year warranty of their siding (which means I don't have to paint it every five years).

and here is the rear of the house. The same basic design, but different windows from the more traditional look. This more modern look would allow us to have large corner windows in the bedroom and the living room.

Five more examples of Modern Architecture in Ottawa

If you read my previous post on 10 examples of Modern Architecture in Hintonburg and Westboro, or the latest edition of Ottawa Magazine, you will know that the Modern style is seeing a resurgence in new residential infill developments in Ottawa.

In this post, I provide five more examples of Modern Architecture, mostly from in and around the Glebe, including two houses that show that this style has been around for a long time.

First is this house at 716 Golden Avenue, near Westboro. Built in 1975, the entire house is clad in brick, rather than the corrugated galvanized steel seen on so many Modern houses built today. If your interested, this house is currently up for sale by the original owner for a cool $1.1 million. For a short time, at least until it sells, you can check out the real estate brochure to see pictures of the inside.

Now over to the Glebe.

Freen House at 5 Clemow Avenue is not only one of the best examples of Modern Architecture in the city, it is also testament to the fact the despite its name, Modern Architecture dates back to the first half of the 1900s. Originally built in 1958 in the Modern style, architect John Donkin went to work on it in 2006 re-cladding the exterior and adding tons of new windows to vastly improve the connection to the outside. He also gutted the 2200 square foot interior to create what the owners describe as fluid spaces that are open to interpretation. Below you can see pictures from both before and after the renovation. The total budget for this renovation in 2006 was $435,000 - under $200 per square foot. If you would like to see more pictures of the inside of Freen House or read about this project read Capitalizing on the basics on the Canadian Architect website, or visit John Donkin's website.

Further south in the Glebe, there are a number of newer houses in the Modern style. Close to Freen House are these newly built semi-detached houses 171 First Avenue.

This house at 135 Glen Avenue was built in 2009.

And here is another at 341 Sunnyside Avenue.

I have updated my map of the locations of these Modern style houses in Ottawa. It's a bit too far on foot to visit all these houses in one day, but it might make for a great Sunday afternoon bike tour once summer arrives.

10 examples of Modern Architecture in Ottawa

Recently, Ottawa Magazine did a spread on the recent rise of Modern Architecture in Ottawa. Not that this is a new style. It got its start in the early 1900's, but it appears to be seeing a bit of a revival in the residential sector in Ottawa.

Ottawa Magazine's spread focused on houses in Hintonburg, a once rough-and-tumble neighbourhood now referred to by the chattering classes as "Ottawa's arts neighbourhood." I suppose that's because it's close to the fashionable Westboro neighbourhood, but, until recently, has been relatively cheap, which makes it a good launch point for struggling artists. With land prices in Westboro going through the roof though, land in Hintonburg is quickly being snapped up by potential home owners who want a great house in central Ottawa without spending a fortune on land.

Because Hintonburg is a well established neighbourhood, any new houses are infill projects, and a number of them have adopting a notably modern look, such as this row of townhouses at 1133-1139 Gladstone Avenue designed in 2002 by Urban Keios:

or this house at 41 Grant Street Designed in 2008 by James Colizza, which is actually two semi-detached homes placed back-to-back:

and this house designed by Phil Castro being built on an impossibly narrow 12 foot wide lot on Armstrong Street. Despite being only 12 feet wide, Castro has managed to squeeze 1700 square feet into this Hintonburg home that was recently featured in the Ottawa Citizen.

This house at 98 Stirling Avenue designed by John Donkin has been featured in several publications. Its rusting iron front wall matches the colour of the surrounding brick houses but, together with its galvanized steel second story, has a Modernist feel.

However, Hintonburg is not the only place that the Modernism is making steady inroads. Throughout Westboro, the style is prominent, with a number of exisiting and under-construction infill projects adopting the style.

For example, this house on Beechgrove Avenue:

This one being built on Ferndale Avenue:

and this pair of semi-detached houses being built at 224 Royal Avenue:

And this very attractive house on Duchess Avenue that was built a number of years ago

[UPDATE] Next door to this house on Duchess, Jason Flynn has designed another lovely modern house, which will meet Gold LEED standards, to be built by September 2010.

In Champlain Park area, these three houses were built on a large lot on Keyworth Avenue this year.

And just down the street, this house on Keyworth Avenue has incorporated elements of Modernism with more traditional elements.

If you have nothing to do on a sunny afternoon and fancy taking a walking tour of these houses, simply print this map to show you the way.


[UPDATE: In a newer post, I give five more examples of Modern style houses, including one originally built in 1958]