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laneway house
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
n. — predominantly Vancouver & Toronto, Housing
a small house, built behind an existing house, that is usually accessed through the back alley (see Image 1).
Type: 1. Origin — Laneway houses were built in Toronto as early as 1989 (see the 2008 quotation). After a pilot program, the Toronto government declined to continue approving laneway houses, based on a review of the impact on city services, including "snow removal, garbage collection, water and sewer infrastructure" (see Toronto Staff Report reference and the second 2006 quotation). In 2006 in Vancouver, city council conducted its own research project on laneway housing (see the first 2006 quotation) and approved them as part of the city's EcoDensity initiative and by 2012, 500 house permits had been issued (see the 2012 quotation). By 2016, the soaring real estate prices in the city had made laneway homes one of the last strategies for average income earners to individual home ownership in Vancouver.
The term laneway house stems from the structure's usual location; laneway homes often have front doors facing the back lane (see the 1997 quotation). Since the term laneway is a Canadian preservation, it follows that laneway house is virtually restricted to Canada (see Chart 1). British Columbia is currently the only province that has approved laneway housing, which explains its high frequency in Chart 2. By 2016, the soaring real estate prices in the city have made laneway homes one of the last strategies for average income earners to individual home ownership in Vancouver.
The term laneway house stems from the structure's usual location; laneway homes often have front doors facing the back lane (see the 1997 quotation). Since the term laneway is a Canadian preservation, it follows that laneway house is virtually restricted to Canada (see Chart 1). British Columbia is currently the only province that has approved laneway housing, which explains its high frequency in Chart 2. By 2016, the soaring real estate prices in the city have made laneway homes one of the last strategies for average income earners to individual home ownership in Vancouver.
Quotations
1997
BUILDING a house with the front door on the back lane may not be up everyone's alley. But for those hardy souls who want to build affordable yet unique dwellings in Toronto's saturated core, a coach house or laneway house may be the only practical option.
2004
Last year, University of Toronto professor and architect Terence Van Elslander and colleague Jeffery Stinson completed a study, funded by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., on lane housing. They estimated there were about 6,000 potential laneway house sites in the city.
This year, they hoped to launch a pilot laneway house with $10,000 in support from CMHC, but the project has been stalled.
2006
The vision of revitalizing Toronto's 311 kilometres of back alleys with tiny, cheap homes that has tantalized architects and city planners appears to have been extinguished by city officials' concerns about the costs of utility servicing and garbage pickup. [...] Council adopted the recommendations with only a slight modification that allows area planners to decide if there are "special circumstances" at an individual site that make a laneway house there appropriate.
2006
Vancouver planning consultants Holland Barrs, a firm that has established itself at the leading edge of sustainability planning and design, is wrapping up a major research project on laneway housing in B.C.'s growing cities that they undertook for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
Their findings estimate that within the City of Vancouver there is the capacity to build out more than 48,000 infill units in the form of laneway homes.
They arrived at this estimate by doing a detailed analysis of two typical Vancouver neighbourhoods -- a 12-block area in the Hastings-Sunrise community on the eastside and a 12-block area in the Dunbar community on the westside. Within the two test neighbourhoods, 74 per cent of the residential lots have the capacity to accommodate a laneway infill house.
[...]
A number of laneway homes already exist on 50-foot wide and larger lots on the westside, a historic reminder of the time when "carriage houses" were built to house "hired help" and extended family in affluent areas. But there are few examples on conventional 33-foot-by-120-foot lots found across the eastside, except for a few lots around the Commercial Drive area of Grandview-Woodlands, where I saw my little dream cottage.
How does a laneway house work? Well, if your existing house is sited on your lot in a way that it provides a rear yard at least 13 metres deep theoretically you would be able to accommodate an infill home with a footprint of about eight metres deep facing the lane. The first floor would accommodate either one or two parking spaces, depending on the lot width. Above the parking would be a 600- to 700- sq.-ft. apartment accessed from the ground floor.
2008
The new owners didn't just buy any home. They bought Toronto's first laneway house - a distinctive piece of Toronto's urban landscape.
The home was designed by the late Jeffrey Stinson - a University of Toronto architecture professor and advocate for laneway housing - and built with the help of his sons in 1989.
2009
Almost two dozen Vancouver homeowners lined up Wednesday to inquire about replacing their garages with small second homes, a day after city council approved laneway housing.
The plan, approved unanimously by council on Tuesday, makes nearly 70,000 single-family lots potentially eligible to add a rental home to help out with the mortgage or house grandparents, grown children or caregivers.
2012
But Toderian said he's proud of EcoDensity, noting the city is about to approve its 500th laneway house since bylaws were changed in 2009.
He's happy to have contributed to "greenest city" initiatives and planning work for Northeast False Creek, worked to protect land for job creation, created new view corridors in the city while approving tall towers, encouraged denser development along Cambie Street and more varied architecture in Vancouver and for bringing an ideas competition about future plans for the viaducts to the city.
2014
If you've been yearning for more housing space or an income helper, the solution might be in your own backyard. Consider making the same space more useable with Laneway Housing. Keep your parking spot, keep your yard, but build an additional dwelling with multiple use potential.
References
- City of Toronto • "Staff Report, 20 June 2006"
Images
Image 1: A laneway house photographed from the alley (lane) with the back of the main house on the left. On Tolmie St. between W 8th and 9th Ave. in Vancouver. Photo: S. Gaylie.
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 17 Sep. 2013
