Skip to main content

The Conversation Pit

One of my favourite aspects of mid-century, 1970s and 1980s housing design was actually not very common and never really caught on en-masse for builder's tract housing. The conversation pit was usually reserved for spacious and/or avant garde houses, but a few rare examples can be found in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area. 
 
The sunken conversation pit was commonly centred on a fireplace and was an intimate area to gather and have a conversation - thus the name of the design element. Sometimes this space was designed as a way to make a portion of a larger space into a cozy spot to gather. The sitting surface may have been in the form of built-in benches, or the stepped carpeted floor became the sitting surface. 

The following are some examples of builder tract housing with conversation pits. I have a couple of Ottawa examples, but I have also dug in to my Orange County (California) files and my Toronto-area plans to share some interesting examples.


Cadillac Fairview built this design in the Pineview area of Ottawa. It has a great conversation pit as a way to break up the sweeping run from the living room through to the family room.
 This Costain plan from Orleans has a conversation pit at one end of the family room with built-in seating.
 
In Hunt Club Woods, this Campeau design has a raised den with fireplace off of the master bedroom, which could be considered a variation of a conversation pit (raised and without built-in seating) - although I am not sure the location off of the bedroom would be ideal for entertaining. The optional second floor has a separate room, more conducive for inviting guests.
 
Below are two articles about houses in Orange County, Southern California, with conversation pits as an integral part of the design.
The following article is on a design built in Irvine, from Professional Builder June 1978:
 
The design above has a small conversation pit in the master bedroom - more of an intimate space for spouses to chat, and not really a larger group. In this example, the carpeted steps double as seats. 
 
The design below is from Huntington Beach as described in Professional Builder June 1979:

The front corner of the living room in the plan below has a sunken and vaulted conversation pit.
 

The following plans are from a development in the Villages of Heart Lake in Brampton (my hometown) from around 1985-1986. When I was younger, my plan collection was much smaller and I would spend hours studying the few I had. The plans from this area were some of my favourite (and still are) because the designs are so innovative and unusual. Portions of 3 plans are shown below, all with a conversation pit next to a fireplace.
 
If the conversation pit is at one end of the room, it may be referred to by the historic name for such an arrangement: an inglenook. Traditionally, inglenooks were not sunken, but were smaller spaces right next to the fireplace with benches. In the examples above and below, they are ways to make parts of the long rooms feel more intimate.


In this design the two-storey family room has an intimate and cosy pit by the fireplace.
 
A conversation pit is an unusual aspect of this 1986 Bramalea Limited plan built in Unionville near Toronto. It is the only design in the area with such a unique feature:
 
Although it is not a builder's tract house, the design above from a CHMC plan book has a conversation pit at the end of the long living room in this unique design.
* * *
 
By the end of the 1980s conversation pits fell out of favour, and recent renovations to some houses have removed them altogether. I still think they are a fantastic feature and a great space to gather by the fireplace to have an actual conversation - instead of sitting in front of the TV or computer mesmerized by screens.  


Labels:

Comments

  1. J D LoweApril 9, 2014 at 10:58 AM

    Thanks for the interesting post. I never realized that the conversation pit was at one time even considered a salable feature of a standard suburban house. As you mention, screen time dominates today, so maybe there needs to be a 'video pit' or a 'gaming pit' :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. JonathanJune 17, 2014 at 7:04 PM

    Great finds! I always pictured a conversation pit with a hallway and rooms around it in a cabin. It would work great to give houses more character instead of being cookie cutter.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beijing YorkAugust 20, 2017 at 10:09 PM

    Back again. It seems that the Costain plan from Orleans is probably the show house we viewed in Blackburn Hamlet as a kid. Thanks so much for putting this site together.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Most viewed posts

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...
57 comments
Read more

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 -...
Post a Comment
Read more

Modern Mansard - The Neo-Mansard Roof

Throughout the mid-century, the Mansard roof was popular in Ottawa housing design.  First popularised in France during the 17th century, and then revived in the 19th century, the roof style re-appeared in Ottawa during the 1960s. At first the roof was used on historically-inspired houses, but was eventually altered in a variety of ways to have a more modern take on tradition. Campeau was the builder who used the roof the most in the mid-century, but other builders also followed suit. A traditional use of the Mansard roof. Playfair Park North/South, Russell Heights, c. 1965. This plan had a traditional Mansard option as well as 2 Dutch Colonial options with a Gambrel roof. Beacon Hill and South Keys, c. 1967. Here is a great example of a modern take on the Mansard roof. Instead of protruding dormer windows with arched tops, these houses have an inset window and an asymmetrical facade. From the side, the roof actually has more of a Gambrel-style silh...
1 comment
Read more

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 n...
16 comments
Read more

Campeau in the late 1950s and early 1960s

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.
Post a Comment
Read more

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 atr...
Post a Comment
Read more

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 spac...
1 comment
Read more

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 stair...
3 comments
Read more

California Modern in Ottawa

During the mid-century era, California became the epicentre of modern design. From the architect-designed case-study houses, to the mundane tract house, all eyes were on California. In Canada, books and periodicals on architecture filled with Californian design would have sparked the imagination of Architects and designers. W hen one thinks of Mid-Century Modern (MCM) California tract housing, the name ‘Eichler’ often comes to mind. Perhaps one of the most famous MCM tract builders, Joseph Eichler, defined MCM design in the United States. His widely-published designs even captured the imagination of Canadians. Any designer/architect in the know would have seen an Eichler plan. In Ottawa, there are a few examples of houses built in the 1960s with floor plans that could have been influenced by those being built by Eichler. The most famous Eichler-built designs are those with an open-air atrium at the centre. One of the floor plans built by Teron in Beaverbrook during the...
7 comments
Read more

Neighbourhood Spotlight - Beacon Hill North

The Beacon Hill North area, east of downtown, has some great examples of MCM houses. Map of Beacon Hill North The two main builders in Beacon Hill were Minto and Campeau. For the most part, the Minto-built homes are in the centre of the community (in an area that was also marketed as Beaconwood), and the Campeau-built homes act as book-ends on the western and eastern sides. Simpson Homes also built a handful of large houses in the northwest portion. In addition, there are a few pockets of houses built by other builders, including MacDonald Homes, as a part of the H.O.M.E. Plan (Home Ownership Made Easy) – particularly on the east side. The Campeau houses in the southwest portion of the area were marketed as being in Rothwell Village, due to their location bordering Rothwell Heights. The houses built in this area were Campeau’s larger two-storey and split-level models. One of the Campeau designs in Rothwell Village. The same design was also built in Arlington Woods. ...
20 comments
Read more