Southeast of Baseline and Greenbank Road in Nepean is the community of Briargreen, which was built during the 1960s. With only 2 access streets, the area has very little traffic with quiet tree-lined streets. The area was built exclusively by Campeau and Minto, with the exception of a handful of houses on the extreme eastern edge which were built by Falconcrest Homes in the 1980s as a part of the Centrepointe community. The north, west and southern edges are bounded by streets with semi-detached houses, while the centre of the community is filled with detached houses. I like to think of Briargreen as a sort of 'snapshot' of mid-century architecture in Ottawa. There is great variety in the styles of houses in the neighbourhood - from traditional to modern - often built side-by-side. Minto-built houses - modern and traditional intermixed. The different types of house designs found in Briargreen mirror what was popular at the time throughout the ci...

When one pictures what a MCM house looks like, most often a low slung bungalow or side-split will come to mind. This makes sense as these were the most popular types of houses built during the mid-century and have become icons for the era. The less common two-storey house of the period will be the subject of this particular posting, with a focus on the most ubiquitous two-story house design: the Foursquare. Most mid-century two-story houses have the same basic boxy shape, with a standard arrangement of rooms. The house layout has its roots dating back to early in the 20 th century with a style of house called the Foursquare (sometimes called the Prairie Box). Much more simple than earlier Victorian houses, Foursquares are straightforward in their square (or rectangular) footprint, and in their simple exteriors. Plan from the Aladdin mail-order house catalogue, c. 1930. The standard floor plan of a Foursquare had 4 rooms on the main floor: Hall and Living Roo...