The City of Toronto is not only one of the most up and coming international cities in the world, it has a unique architectural landscape to boot.
Toronto's architecture is a collection of buildings influenced by European and American trends with designs contracted to some of the world's most renowned archtects: Frank Gehry, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, and Daniel Libeskind to name a few.
Amid efforts to embrace both past remnants and today's ideology, Toronto has carved out it's own piece of architectural pie; the Bay and Gable house and The Annex Style house both of which are unique to Toronto. Let's look at what combination of characteristics to look for.
The Bay and Gable House
Characteristics
*usually semi-detached or row style housing
*bay window that covers more than half of the front of the house
*red brick
*2 1/2 stories
*tall, narrow and deep, with high ceilings and large windows to allow the penetration of natural light
*common to the older neighbourhoods such as Little Italy and Cabbage Town
*emphasis on steep roofs and vertical lines
*built during the Gothic Revival and Victorian Revival
*often will have stained glass windows
*bargeboard and ornamental terracotta tiles are also common
The Annex Style House
Characteristics
*common to Sherbourne and Jarvis area, Univerity of Toronto campus and the Annex neighbourhood
*combination of Queen Anne style and Richard Romanesque
*Romanesque large round arches branching from short squat columns
*cylindrical columns with cone caps
*bands of windows with recessed entries
*Queen Anne detailing such as turrets and an ecclectic style with tudor elements
*exterior emphasis of the attics
*surround brick
*originally built for wealthy neighbourhoods, very large and can often be found divided into separate apartments
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay-and-gable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Annex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Toronto
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