In the 1960s and early 1970s Minto built a series of large sprawling houses, on large parcels of land - especially compared to suburban lot sizes today. These houses were built in various parts of the city in communities formerly on the edge of built-up Ottawa. Today they are inner suburbs that offer proximity to downtown as well as houses that spread out over the generous land they were built on. Some are decidedly modern in style, while others are more traditional.  Areas where these designs were built include Skyline, Skyline North, Graham Park, Qualicum, Ryan Farm, Beaconwood and Beacon Hill North. Below is a sampling of just some of these houses. The ranch houses from this series of plans are sprawling and have modern asymmetrical facades. All three of these plans won a Canadian Housing Design Council award Unfortunately, I do not have the exterior elevation drawing for this plan This high-ranch design was especially suited for hilly locations to facil...

If you have ever been stuck in traffic on Booth Street near Albert Street you may have admired the row of multi-coloured houses with carports on the eastern side, plus a row on adjacent Primrose Avenue. What I find most striking about these houses are the different colours used to distinguish each unit in the row.  The row on Primrose has a brighter colour scheme. I am uncertain of the exact date when these houses were built, but it would most-likely have been in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The architecture is similar to other townhouse clusters built around the same time with wood siding and carports. This architecture appears to be particular to Ottawa, creating a unique local vernacular. Two blocks west of this cluster are other houses with a similar architecture, but they were built by J. Perez.  I have heard that these houses were built by R.J. Nicol. The plans for these "Painted Ladies" are unique as well,...