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...

Located in the Triangle where St.Laurent Boulevard forks off at Russell Road, is an area called Hawthorne Meadows. There are 3 general areas within the community, all of which were built in the mid-century. The southern part was originally developed by Minto in the early 1960s and is characterized by smaller bungalows. The north end was built in the mid-to-late 1960s and has larger houses built by Minto and Campeau. The area along the western edge has custom-built houses of varying sizes and styles. Below is the brochure and plans from the first phase of Hawthorne Meadows: Although this image shows a side-split house on the right side, it does not seem that any of that model were actually built in the subdivision. Notice that the plan above is an early version of the Alpine - which was a Canadian Housing Design Council award-winning plan (see Alpine plan below). As seen in the plans above, most of the houses in this phase wer...