Planner and former MLA Art Cowie once again clarifies exactly what a Fee-Simple Rowhouse is.
By Art Cowie
The Fee-Simple Rowhouse is called a “terrace house” in Australia and New Zealand and most other countries with historical links to Britain. Terraced housing was introduced in the 19th century and large numbers were built in the inner suburbs of Australian cities, particularly Sydney and Melbourne, between the 1850’s and the 1890’s. This was a period of rapid population growth, well before the introduction of the motor car, so development was focused on street car communities.
Terraced housing ranged from expensive middle-class houses of three, four, and five- storeys, down to a single-storey cottage in working-class suburbs. The most popular building material was brick, often covered with stucco. The roofs were usually slate. The majority was built in the “Filigree” style, distinguished through heavy use of cast iron ornament, particularly on the balconies and railings at the sidewalk edge.
With the move of the wealthy to the suburbs in the early and mid-20th century, many of the inner-city terrace areas became slums, only to be gentrified decades later when families wanted again to live closer to the city centre. With increased densities and the desire for underground parking, and more common open space, the old style terraces changed to what is now called townhouse style development, although they often kept the historical terrace look and period architecture.
As I explained in article #122 The Fee-Simple Rowhouse: The next ‘Not So Secret’ housing type for Vancouver, I renovated a late 19th century terrace house in Paddington, an inner suburb of Sydney, Australia in the early 1960’s.
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| Typical rowhouses in Paddington before being renovated |
My terrace house is the second from the right in the above picture. I was lucky that the slate roof was in good condition, but I had to completely redo the cast iron freeze and balcony railing. I gutted the house and made it completely contemporary inside, like many other owners were doing in the area. The home was owned fee-simple, with my neighbour and I separated by a joint party wall consisting of two bricks, coated on each side with plaster. The inside of the home was 14 feet 6 inches wide. Other homes on the street ranged from 40 feet down to a few 11 feet wide. This attractive street in Paddington today has two art galleries and a pub at the corner, and has become popular for professionals wanting to live close to their work in the inner downtown of Sydney. There is a small garage behind each home accessed off a narrow lane. Each home also has a back garden and usually a paved patio. Shared six foot high walls or fences are allowed between properties. It is not unusual to see homes of three storeys, providing variety, with whole streets following the steep contour of the land.
Other popular areas where there are attractive terrace housing include The Rocks, Bondi Junction, Glebe, Darlinghurst and Balmain.
In the United States the first row houses were built in Philadelphia in the early 19th century as part of the first speculative mass housing developments. Prior to this, homes were built separately. Row houses, sometimes called brownstones, are found in New York in many areas like Middle Village and Woodhaven. In Marine Park in Brooklyn they are commonly called “attached houses”.
In Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, and Washington DC, they are simply called row houses or row homes and are very common. Despite the narrow lots, many row houses are relatively large. In Philadelphia, almost the entire city is populated with various types of row houses and they continue to be built today.
In the Southern United States the term has taken on a more upscale connotation, and the term “condo” is used. In the Midwest and Great Plains they are referred to as townhomes, but the term duplex and triplex are also used if the homes are built in smaller groups. In California there are many waterside rowhouses in marina developments.
 Rowhouses in Reston New Town |
 A California waterside rowhouse development |
In Canada, the first row houses were built in the cities of Halifax, Saint John NB and St John’s, Nfld. The most colorful homes are undoubtedly in St John’s, where the city encourages various color combinations in the downtown as part of an historic theme.
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| Colourful rowhouses in St John’s |
In Saint John, after a large late 1890’s fire in the downtown area, many of the wooden-sided rowhouses were rebuilt using brick and stone.
 Brick four level rowhouse |
 Three level rowhouse |
There are fee-simple rowhouses in every major city in Canada except in British Columbia. In Vancouver there are some traditional older rowhouse projects that are cooperatively owned. In the last thirty years there have been many townhouse developments built throughout the city, with most of them made to look like heritage theme rowhouses, with pitched roofs to satisfy local aesthetic sensibilities. These are all strata-owned developments, as are the many duplex houses in the city.
More recently developers have been able to convince the city that more contemporary townhouse themes are appropriate, particularly when associated with high density towers in False Creek North, or along the shore of the Harbour Waterfront.
 Strata Rowhouse Project west of Oak St. on 16th Ave. |
 Rowhouses at the base of a highrise development on the Harbour Waterfront near Canada Place |
What to expect in the future in Vancouver and later other communities in British Columbia. At the initiative of the City of Vancouver, the Provincial Government is expected soon to pass “Party Wall Agreement” legislation so that fee-simple rowhouse projects can be built, allowing individual rowhouse lot ownership without the need for strata councils. This will offer a whole new form of ground-oriented accommodation that will satisfy those people seeking higher density living in the city —where they don’t have to rely so much on the automobile —and where the idea of collective responsibilities is unattractive.
Fee simple rowhouses are expected to be allowed mainly along arterial streets, around established shopping centres, and around public new transit stations, outside the higher density commercial and apartment zones. The Fee-Simple Rowhouse form of development could amount to 15 to 20 percent of future housing in the City of Vancouver, over the next 20 years, if the concept catches on, as it has in many other cities.
The first three Fee-Simple Rowhouse demonstration project is fully approved by Vancouver City Council and will be built in the summer of 2008, at the corner of 33rd. Avenue and Cambie Street, opposite Queen Elizabeth Park. The development planning and design is the responsibility of Eikos Planning Inc. and the contractor is MYK Construction Ltd.
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| Model of demonstration project |
Thanks to Graham Murchie, ‘of PeoplePlans’ for editing this article. “Some research material on Terraced Housing is from —Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”.