Monday, July 20, 2009

Quite a Juxtaposition



You can find some interesting land use juxtapositions in smaller centres like ours. The house above is big, the lot that it's sitting on constituting almost all of one city block, both back to front as well as side to side. It's close to the centre of town which is appropriate because at one point in time, before modern transit, particularly the automobile, became widely available, the wealthy tended to build their houses close to urban cores.

However in smaller urban places, such as our town, land uses can change remarkably in a very short space. In point of fact the following dwelling, perhaps the poorest, little, old house in town in on the very street that the above mansion backs on to.


This juxtaposition, rich and poor living cheek by jowl, has frequently caught my attention, and I finally thought to snap these photos whilst we were walking past the other day.

5 comments:

KGMom said...

I enjoyed this post.
I observe similar juxtapositions when I go travelling.
When I visited our daughter in Ghana, the capital city Accra has MANY such juxtapositions--run down hove, practically a lean-to, next to a lovely mansion complete with high security walls.

Mary said...

AC,

A great photo of the houses. There is a section near downtown here where the wealthy lived. Many doctors and lawyers still live there. There's a small park in the area. On one side are the mansions...on the other small cottages. A unique contrast.

I had a lot of catching up to do. Glad you all were finally able to get in the pool. Your garden looks terrific. I'm looking forward to next year's photos to see how the perennials dominate.

Have a great week, my friend. Was chilly here yesterday and yes, the weather is nuts.

Blessings,
Mary

Anonymous said...

Our son's home in New York was very tall. It sat on a lot the size that our one house sat on in Ky., but there were four houses on the same amount of land. They knew none of their neighbors. They live in Texas now and there is plenty of room.
QMM

Amanda said...

Interesting post.
I believe it's the same wherever you stay ~ maybe just not as quite as close as those two houses are to each other!

To comment on your previous post, we have a relative over here on holiday from Canada at the moment and she has also commented that the summer weather that you have been getting hasn't been good. She lives near Newmarket (Ontario). Do you know it?

Janet said...

We have a similar situation in our town. Old rundown and abandoned houses are right next door to big new modern dwellings. And broken-down 70s trailers reside next to big brick mansions. Very strange.