Archiscape Blog

THE ROW HOUSE: ORIGINS & TRANSFORMATIONS

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Karin • Filed under:

The Row House originated in Northern European and British cities during the 16th and 17th centuries. By definition, row houses are individual houses attached one to the other and sharing common side walls and a roof.
The Place des Vosges in Paris, built in 1605, is lined with row houses, with stores on the ground floor and individual apartments above. Haussmann made the typology ubiquitous in Paris. In England, row houses were built both for laborers in large tracts and for noblemen in the city. In Malaysia and Singapore, one can find adapted versions of the British typology, know as shophouses.

When the British and French colonized the New World, row houses were adapted to the geography, to the population density and to the particular culture of the city. Examples are found in North American cities – Philadephia, Baltimore, Washington, Boston, New York, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver; and in the cities of Australia and New Zealand.

Social adaptations include the location of servants in upper class houses. Servants often lived in the basement or a semi-basement, with a raised first floor giving the opportunity of a grand staircase. This is the case in the Brownstones of New York or the Greystones of Montreal. The exception is in Paris, where servants lived on the very upper floors, under the eaves. These days, the servant apartments are separate rental apartments, creating a mix of family and single residents in the neighborhoods. Larger row houses have also been divided into smaller apartments, creating a greater mix and density of residents.

Contemporary versions of the row house reflect new building technologies, espouse sustainable practices and continuously question and suggest new ways of living.