busman’s holiday
noun : bus·man’s holiday : \ˈbəs-mənz-\
Simple Definition of busman’s holiday (via merriam-webster.com)
: a holiday that you spend doing the same kind of thing that you usually do for your job
I was lucky enough this year to take a trip to Canada and one of the stops was at Toronto and try as I might; I couldn’t persuade my family to take a walking tour of the architectural delight that is Cabbagetown.
Cabbagetown’s name derives from the Irish immigrants who moved to the neighbourhood beginning in the late 1840s, said to have been so poor that they grew cabbage in their front yards – the area’s sandy soil proved ideal. These days proud residents fly green and white Cabbagetown flags from their windows, similar to the Canadian flag but with a large green cabbage instead of the maple leaf.
Toronto’s wealthier Victorian citizens built ornate Romanesque, Italianate villas and Gothic manors and at this time the ‘bay and gable’ style appeared; prominent features of this style included:
• Two semi-detached dwellings
• Round bay windows
• Victorian pitched gables
• Shared front garden
• Stained glass windows
• Barge boards running along the gables
• Terracotta tiles with ornamental motifs and designs
You can see a few examples in the slideshow below:
For a great walking tour of Cabbagetown I’d recommend the Lonely Planet guide to Toronto.
I come back from this trip and although the house is detached and is probably a little later; this house on Conservengineers Instagram & Twitter feed caught my eye (shown again below) and includes very similar detailing showing how Victorian housing crossed continents:
Note the use of red brick, bay and gable and even a Gothic window!