Building small houses in postwar Canada: Architects, homeowners and bureaucratic ideals, 1947-1974

The Canadian urban landscape is filled with single-detached houses built in the post-World War II period. Whether one-storey, one-and-a-half-storey, two-storey or split-level, they were built by families across the country from efficient plans featuring minimal square footage. Many plans were designed by Canadian architects and included in catalogues published by the Central (now Canada) Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) during the first two decades after the Second World War. In setting up a Small House Design Scheme for the particular purpose of urbanizing communities smaller than those in the big cities, the corporation acted as mediator between architects and homeowners who could not afford professional services. This endeavour was inscribed in a larger effort made by CMHC to educate Canadian homeowners and builders in architectural matters. This dissertation argues that the postwar houses, despite their small size, are a major arena for the expression of modernism defined as it were by ideals of an egalitarian democracy and by scientific rationalism embraced by Canadian leaders at the time and projected unto the Canadian society. In this respect, the CMHC catalogues were vehicles to educate and convince ordinary Canadians of the values of modernism. While these plan books are the principal primary sources in this study, a rich collection of written documents and architectural drawings, as well as numerous oral histories collected from CMHC employees, architects and homeowners complete the picture. CMHC followed the model of the United States Federal Housing Administration, yet architects working for the corporation brought in distinctly British architectural and urban planning ideals. American and British models thus highly influenced the views which CMHC imposed on Canadians and which were underlined by concepts such as those of 'modern space' and 'modern family'. In looking at prescribed models for family ideals in the era and by means of interviews with people who purchased postwar houses (and/or their children), this study addresses how the transformations which occurred in the house plan are connected with social changes in postwar Canada. In terms of the architectural models which were circulated in the postwar years, this study looks at the roles of federal and provincial agencies, as well as professionals like architects and builders. It systematically explores the designs in the CMHC catalogues to uncover when and why changes occurred in the postwar house plan; it engages the role of the media - such as popular magazines, television shows and film documentaries – as a milieu liaising between the ideals and realities of the era in promoting modern life-styles based on traditional values. Lastly, it considers the opinions of the original inhabitants in an attempt to locate the intersection of real and ideal lives within these houses. With its focus on Canadian sources, this analysis is inscribed in a larger assessment of the North American architectural profession, postwar material culture and house design. It provides critical points to understand the impact of federal mandates such as CMHC's Small House Design Scheme in Canadian society beyond the immediate scope of this project, as houses built in Canada today are directly derived from the trail of thought and implementation of this Scheme.

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