Homes by A. B Taylor in The 1950s The builder A. B. Taylor constructed houses in the Copeland Park area of Ottawa during the 1950s and 1960s. The earlier designs - located to the west of Maitland Avenue - are compact and modest, common for the time. I previously did a post on how these designs were updated for the 1960s with architectural flair - here is the link:  Copeland Park - Before and After . The plans in this post below are the earlier designs from the 1950s.  Typical for houses of the era, most layouts do not have a back door to the rear yard. Instead, they have a side door near the kitchen, often with access to the basement. Bathrooms are compact, as are the kitchens -  yet space is still provided for a small table. Only the larger split level designs and 2-stories have a second wash room (powder room). Front entries are small, leaving more square footage for the living spaces. The price list below indicates the sizes of the houses - quite small - yet they were ...

This is the first in a multi-part series that will look at the art of the mid-century floor plan. In this instalment, I will look at the documents themselves. Namely, the focus will be on the way the plans are presented in terms of the paper, colours used and style. I have selected just a sampling of the plans I have on file. CAMPEAU Campeau's brochures were typically earth-toned in the early years of the mid 20th century, yet splashes of colour were sometimes used. Later in the 1960s and early 1970s, the brochures were dark and moody, in some cases the colour of the paper overwhelmed the images of the houses and floor plans. This is the earliest Campeau plan brochure that I have, c. 1957. It is on glossy paper and folds out to reveal the house plans as shown below. I find the plans to be a bit too small for my liking. This booklet c. 1959, has 1-2 plans per page, much larger than the above brochure. The key shape as a theme is carried throughout. ...