I'm always astounded at how two countries with a common border and a more-or-less common language can have houses that are such different styles and sizes. I had never realized this until a couple of summers ago when I started watching HGTV in our summer rental house (I have a cheap cable pkg). I was also astounded at how expensive some really ugly, small houses were in Toronto in particular.

A 900sf house as a family home has zero appeal to me.

The better of the designs resemble some of the original homes in Toronto's Don Mills that for the past 30 years have been gradually replaced by larger livable homes desired by richer generations.

A 900 sf house as a family home has zero appeal to me.

If it's a house in downtown Toronto it will range from C$900K-C$1.1 million+++ Undoubtedly a bargain compared to San Francisco, Brooklyn or Boston!

Toronto: Out of the core bargain. Typical high-end postwar bungalow, now a building lot.

So true re house prices in Toronto vs New York City etc

Having grown up in Canada, I never heard of or saw split bedroom homes and homes with the master down and kids rooms upstairs. I discovered these very different bedroom layouts when I moved to Idaho. I could not imagine having my young kids so far away from my room.

Tho, I believe the split bedroom ideas is now coming into vogue.

When I came here from suburban LI, NY, I was amazed to see how brick was the de facto building material in TO. (Dates from the Great Fire of 1904.)

I was equally amazed at the seeming wealth of the city. From Forest Hill, to Rosedale, the Kingsway and the Bridle Path, everyone seemed a millionaire--when a million was real money. A friend who made it all the way through law school would tell me in awe of Forest Hill homes changing hands for $250,000 CASH. When my mother heard what I had spent for my home she was convinced it must have been a mansion. It was quite a disappointment to her.

P G, my inlaws did a split arrangement out of necessity in the 50s. With 9 people In one of those tiny 1.5 story brick homes up Yonge St, they had no choice but to convert a sitting room to their bedroom for several years!

Robo, there are similar houses in my neck of the woods south of the border here. My friend lives in one, and while it's basically like a double-wide, it's quite charming. A patio was enclosed to give much-needed living space, otherwise I think it would be quite claustrophobic.

i really like some of the plans in your slide show. The U shaped one, with entry in the middle, courtyard patio ahead, living to the right and bedrooms to the left, looks quite livable, especially as an empty-nester/retirement home. Maybe with one more bathroom, though.

Number 10-11 looks like it would fit the desired squarish, living areas across the back, bill for another poster here on Building a Home.

Worthy...I love brick and stone, never realized how much till I moved out west, Calgary and everything seemed to be vinyl siding. Love those old stone homes in the Ottawa valley.

Pbathome, I couldn't imagine getting along with so many in such small living conditions. Yet, somehow people did manage quite well.

Well, I don't know that they got along all the time! Siblings are siblings, after all! Worse would be the wringer washer in the basement, no dryer, and going through cloth diapers non-stop for 12 years.

14-15 handles the problem of one bathroom for three bedrooms handily: the tub is in its own room, with a half-bath right next door. Soak as long as you want, no one's kicking the door for the toilet!

I was also astounded at how expensive some really ugly, small houses were in Toronto in particular.

A bunch of these houses are ugly. Just boxes. I'm surprised that these are Canadian houses; I would've thought some of these designs would've faired poorly in snow.

P G, my inlaws did a split arrangement out of necessity in the 50s. With
9 people In one of those tiny 1.5 story brick homes up Yonge St, they
had no choice but to convert a sitting room to their bedroom for several
years!

I'm from the country, and when I was a kid we often visited family members -- multiple households -- who had a moderate-sized living room with a bed tucked into the corner, where the parents slept. These were not poor families. Yes, our idea of how much space we "need" has changed.

i really like some of the plans in your slide show. The U shaped one,
with entry in the middle, courtyard patio ahead, living to the right and
bedrooms to the left, looks quite livable, especially as an
empty-nester/retirement home. Maybe with one more bathroom, though.

I agree that some of these plans look quite livable in spite of their small size.

14-15
handles the problem of one bathroom for three bedrooms handily: the tub
is in its own room, with a half-bath right next door. Soak as long as
you want, no one's kicking the door for the toilet!

Yes, that looks practical -- one room for the toilet /sink, another for bathing -- much more sensible than this modern idea of putting a toilet alone in a tiny closet. My daughter reports that this layout is common amongst her British in-laws.

I also like the idea of a literal bathroom as well as a toilet room. I really don't mind the looks of the homes, a lot of homes around me and that I grew up with really are heartlessly plain. Part of that is likely because my province is poor and housing has tended to be very utilitarian. On the contrary to central Canada, almost no housing in my neck of the woods, eastern Canada, is brick or stone. This is not my house but below is a typical postwar house in my neighborhood, one of the nicer ones.

If I had to talk about differences between the US and Canada to explain some of the housing trends, I would say that we do not have a ready source of illegal or very cheap labour and thus our houses are more expensive to construct per square foot. As well of course we are on average more northerly and larger homes are harder to heat. We also have to build to quite high standards to withstand the winter weather so things like single glazed windows are not heard of here. Finally I think our culture is perhaps a little more modest overall and there is less pressure to have very ostentatious things on average, although of course there are many ostentatious people.

No brick west of Toronto (in Manitoba) unless you were really wealthy or a business. Just too expensive to build. Apartments used to be limited to 3-stories so that firemen and rescuees could get up and down the stairs during a fire.

We have tons of quant, bungalow, 1-1/2 or 1-3/4 homes, often 600-1200 sq ft total on 30'x80' lots, that were built until probably the 70s. Wood siding was common pre and immediately post-war, though now shingles are common. Some hardiboard is coming into play, but mostly on modernesque buildings.