Brian Marshall, Author at Niagara Now

Arch-i-text: English cottage

When an Arts & Crafts house is mentioned in North America one thinks of Craftsman or Prairie designs, but these expressions were late-comers to a tradition founded in England decades earlier. While John

Arch-i-text: A colourful history

For some reason there is a commonly held opinion that the homes of our immigrant ancestors were boring and somewhat sombre places. When asked to visualize the colours used in early 19th-century houses,

Arch-i-text: The saga of the Christmas candle

Christmas in the Town of Niagara during the late 18th and early 19th century was absent many of the practices we follow today. One attended church in the morning, possibly place holly or

Arch-i-text: Compromising the Ranch

To suggest that urban developers didn’t care for ranch bungalows might be an understatement. The Ranch, requiring a lot with at least 90 feet of frontage and a depth sufficient for backyard entertaining,

Arch-i-text: The classic Ranch Bungalow

Brian Marshall Featured Patio entertaining around a barbecue was something that came into popularity in the mid-20th century. For the first time in middle-class North America, it became respectable for the “man-of-the-house” to engage

Archi-i-text: It’s a rarity in NOTL

There is something glorious about fully-expressed Second Empire buildings. Perhaps it has to do with the vertical lines, which draw one’s eyes upward. Then again, it may be the continental flavour imparted by

Arch-i-text: Kitchen tradition dictated form

So, if you were among the moneyed class living in the Town of Niagara (aka Niagara-on-the-Lake) during the first third of the 19th century, where was your kitchen? The short answer is, not in

Arch-i-text: The Regency manor

If you could afford a craftsman-built house in the decade after the War of 1812, the choices of architectural style were few. Of course, the venerable Georgian remained the dominant preference among the traditional