Townhouse
Individual urban house in a terrace or row
- 1 min read
- 3 chapters
Related on Lably
Through Montreal
History
Historically, a townhouse was the city residence of a noble or wealthy family, who would own one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year. From the 18th century, landowners and their servants would move to a townhouse during the social season (when major balls took place).
Sign in to keep reading
2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.
United States and Canada
In the United States and Canada, a townhouse has two connotations. The older predates the automobile and denotes a house on a small footprint in a city, which because of its multiple floors (sometimes six or more) has a large living space, often with servants' quarters. The small footprint of the townhouse allows it to be within walking or mass-transit distance of business and industrial areas of the city, yet luxurious enough for wealthy residents of the city.
Townhouses are expensive where detached single-family houses are uncommon, such as in New York City, Philadelphia, Montreal, and San Francisco. A brownstone townhouse is a particular variety found in New York and to some extent in Philadelphia and Boston.