Assaly Villas

From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, Assaly Construction built a series of very unique townhouses in Westcliffe Estates (Bell's Corners) and Trend Village. The designs were very innovative for the time and included plans with 2-car garages, 4 bedroom designs, as well as a bungalow townhouse plan with a courtyard.

Originally, the houses were built with very traditional facades, but as revealed later in this post, many of these traditional facades have been adapted to make the houses look quite modern.

Above are the original plans for the Assaly Villas. The two-story plans all have a large master bedroom over the garage with a balcony. I quite like the entry courtyard of the bungalow plans.

The 'Spanish Villas' plans from Trend Village, which include a 1-car garage design with a unique take on the Mansard roof.

One of the most interesting things about the Assaly Villas is that so many of them have been changed over the years. I don't think there are any other examples of townhouses in Ottawa where so many have been drastically remodelled, changing their exteriors.

This bungalow design in Westcliffe Estates now has an enclosed courtyard with an appealing peaked roof. Many of the courtyards on the bungalow designs have been enclosed.

This Trend Village bungalow plan (unit on the right) is hardly recognisable with its second floor addition.

This row in Westcliffe Estates has actually become more modern as the owners have adapted the facades by enclosing the second floor porches.

Another similar row in Westcliffe Estates. I actually really like the variety of window arrangements and colour schemes. Originally, all of the units would have had a covered porch over the garage - but all have been enclosed.

Westcliffe Estates has a few types of Assaly Villas with a modern take on the Mansard roof. Interestingly, few of the Mansard roof units have been changed.

A row in Trend Village which where each owner has updated their units with a new colour scheme. Some have also enclosed the porch over the garage. While originally stucco, some of the houses have since been clad in siding, such as the unit to the far right.

Another Trend Village row where all of the units have enclosed the porch over the garage.

In this Trend Village row, the houses on the left have covered the entry courtyard above the curved archway.

This unit in Trend Village looks very different as the porch over the garage has been enclosed and half of the garage has been turned in to a room.

A Trend Village house that has been completely overhauled with additions all around.

In the late 1970s, Assaly built what they called 'Frehold Garden Villas', which are nearly identical in plan to the earlier 'Villas' they built a decade before. I am only aware of the one grouping that they built with the bungalow and 2-car garage designs in the late 1970s. The exteriors of these homes are more modern than their earlier counterparts. The shutters and covered porch on the bungalow design have been added, perhaps to make the house seem more traditional.

The bungalow plan with its decidedly modern facade.

The two-car garage plan is a smaller, more-simplified version of the earlier Assaly Villas. Gone is the main floor powder room and second floor covered porch over the garage.

A 1977 ad for Assaly-built houses in Westcliffe Estates showing the modern facades of their semi-detached houses and Garden Villas. Their unique contemporary designs for semi-detached houses were short-lived with very few built (only a few in Westcliffe Estates and a couple in Barrhaven). Too bad...

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Campeau in Alta Vista

One of the biggest builders in Ottawa during the 1950s and 1960s was Campeau Construction, a name still known today, even though the builder is no longer active. Many of the houses in Alta Vista were custom built, but Campeau was one of the first builders to construct tract homes in the area. Approximate locations of areas where Campeau built Beginning in the 1950s Campeau began building houses southwest of Kilborn Avenue and Alta Vista Drive, north of Randall Avenue. At the time, bungalows and one-and-a-half storey houses were most popular. Many of the “Victory Houses” built by Wartime Housing Ltd. for returning veterans after WWII were one-and-a-half stories, and the style soon became very popular for all builders. Below are some of Campeau's one-and-a-half storey plans built in the area: With time, the one-and-a-half storey house became less popular, and bungalows and split-level houses became the norm. An easy way to determine the age of houses on a street in

The small Post-War 1 1/2-Storey House - Part One

The small Post-War 1 1/2-Storey House The 1 1/2-storey house is common in certain areas of Ottawa built during WWII and the era immediately afterwards. These houses can be found throughout the city, but larger concentrations include the following areas: Carlington, Courtland Park, Carleton Heights, Meadowlands/St. Claire Gardens, Alta Vista, Overbrook, Eastview, Vanier, Elmvale Acres and Queensway Terrace. The 1 1/2-storey house actually has older roots in European architecture and early North American housing. The style was re-born by Wartime Housing Limited during WWII to fill a need during a housing shortage and were meant to be temporary. The design is economical to build, versus a full 2-storey house, and in some cases the second floor can be left unfinished for future expansion. Here is a link to a NFB short film on the wartime houses: Wartime Housing Below are the 3 basic plans Wartime Housing Limited built in communities across Canada - one of which was a 1 1/2-storey

Modern Mansard - The Neo-Mansard Roof

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Costain in Ottawa - Part One: Blackburn Hamlet (Detached Homes)

Some of my long-time readers may remember that I did a series of posts on Costain a few years ago. For some reason, a few of my older posts have vanished from my blog - for reasons unknown to me. So, I have re-created this post on the builder Costain due to interest from some of my readers. On the positive side, I have been able to get my hot little paws on some new floor plans and marketing material, so there is more material in this post compared to the original (now lost) post! In the mid-1960s the builder Costain (originally from England, but with an impressive global portfolio) came to Ottawa to develop a new hamlet in the eastern greenbelt called Blackburn Hamlet. Today Blackburn Hamlet is very lush with mature trees and extensive parkland, surrounded by the NCC Greenbelt. The west side of Blackburn Hamlet has 3 neighbourhoods separated by parkland, Westpark, Southpark and Centrepark. The Northpark and Eastpark neighbourhoods

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Below is a collection of floor plans that Campeau built in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I quite like the first plan with its blank front facade to the right of the front door. It gives the house a modern take on the Cape Cod-inspired 1 1/2 story style. I do not believe that many of this design were built, though. I also quite like this design below, with its blank facade and large wall of windows in the Living Room. Too bad my only copy of the plan is cut off at the top.

CMHC house designs from the mid-century

Between 1947 and 1974 the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), formerly Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, published regular floor plan books of small houses suitable to be built in Canada. Blueprints could be ordered for the architect-designed plans, and examples of the built houses can be found throughout Ottawa. There are so many interesting plans that were available through the CMHC, so this is only the first posting with some of my favourites. If you recognise any of these designs that have been built in Ottawa (or elsewhere in Canada), please feel free to share the location with me! I have always been a fan of the butterfly roof! Although there are no front facing windows on the above design, the cedar shake cladding makes for a very interesting facade. The architect was based out of Kanata, and I could easily see this house fitting into the natural landscape of Beaverbrook - although I don't think it was actually built there. The central atrium h

Amberwood Village - Stittsville

Another blog post by request! Located south of Hazeldean Road east of Stittsville Main Street is a very special "adult-lifestyle" neighbourhood begun in the late 1970s. The original phases of Amberwood Village consist of a series of houses built in clusters along the edges of the Amberwood Golf Course. The development was originally built by a company called Jaric Developments Ltd. The architect of this original portion of the area was W.G.Mohaupt - who also designed the "courtyard singles" in Hunt Club (see my old post Favourite Plans South and scroll down to see these designs) - and also used to design houses for Minto. The clusters of attached houses are grouped on dead-end lanes and units are attached is a variety of arrangements. Some designs have an attached garage, while others have detached garages clustered together with others. The result is a very interesting streetscape with a lot of open space between units. Image courtesy of

The bungalow staircase

California spearheaded the popularity of the bungalow (or ranch home), in mid-century North America. In California, basements are rare. During WWII and immediately afterward, some Ottawa houses were built without basements to save costs. But, the appeal of having a basement as extra room for storage and expansion space, meant that the basementless house did not last long. Having a basement meant that California-inspired designs had to be adapted to allow room for a staircase down. The placement of the basement stairs in bungalow design is sometimes a challenge. With a two-story house, often the staircase is located in the front hall, but this is not the case with many bungalows. While a staircase up leads to finished rooms on the upper floor, the staircase down to the basement was historically linked to service spaces. Basements in older houses were more utilitarian, so there was no need to have the basement stairs on display like the stairs to the upper floors. A staircase down also

California Modern in Ottawa

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Neighbourhood Spotlight - Beacon Hill North

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