Hacker News Reader

Comment by jabbany | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, this kind of split-level design was super common in the PNW and 1980s isn't even particularly old when it comes to housing (plenty of houses in the Seattle metro area that are from the '20s...).

Like here's a random listing from 30 seconds of searching that has light renovations: https://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/10201-23rd-Ct-SW-98146/hom... and if you spend enough time looking for "affordable" options in suburbs, it's not hard to find ones that have not been renovated since they were built in the '70s and '80s.

View on HN

There's a common thing that I've noticed when going to Canada. As soon as you cross the border, you see tons of houses built in the 70s and 80s that are sided with stucco. They look so out of place in BC. In Washington, our climate is pretty much the same, but nobody here has stucco houses. I'm curious why so many up in Canada, but not here. They look like they would fit in nicely in Southern California.

Not sure if this applies to houses built in the 70s and 80s, but I've heard that Chinese-Canadians have a strong preference for stucco over other forms of siding because it's perceived as being more durable.

Sounds like you're talking about the Vancouver Special: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Special

Tons of houses in the 70s and 80s in Vancouver was built in the exact same style because of zoning laws and certain regulations at the time. I couldn't tell you why they chose stucco but they basically all follow the same template and they're basically a signature of the city now.

My realtor says that split level design is known locally as the "BC Box"

Close relative of the "Vancouver Special"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Special

Came to post this name. Yep it's a "BC Box." Very common in the suburbs of Vancouver built from the 70s through 80s. If you buy some random old house in Coquitlam or Langley in an "old" neighbourhood it's probably something like this.

So clearly the design was common throughout the rest of BC, even up north too!

Upper Midwest had those split levels too!

and stucco. It's everywhere in Minneapolis.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com