The Canadian government introduced the first National Building Code in 1941 in an attempt to improve standards of sanitation, storage, ventilation, fire safety, noise separation and comfort.  The Central Housing and Mortgage Corporation organized in 1960 passed out cash to families willing to conform with these rules.  The result was the development of individual as well as communities of these houses across Canada. Unfortunately they allowed no variations for differences in climate and geography.

The allowance of decent size housing lots prevented the shoe-boxing seen in other countries and as you can see the landscaping became individualized and sometimes quite attractive over the years.  While Allen Penney has written that the National Housing Act resulted in "some houses of high quality both inside and out," the result was not always good. My parents lived in one of these in Fredericton, N.B. and it showed a good deal of inattention to the demands of the law.  Insulation was sparse and poorly installed and the vapour barrier placed on the wrong side of the ceiling studs. In the summer when the relative humidity was high it rained indoors to an extent that furniture had to be covered with heavy plastic sheets. I could go on...The main point is that the homes of  similar age all along the street had similar defects.

The armed services preferred these modest homes and at bases in Atlantic Canada they were assembled on a grand scale.  There were variations such as the split-level created on a hilly site, the two-family split-level and condominiums, but whatever their ilk they were low-rise, land-hungry, high-density living quarters often uniform in colour and lack of individuality in ground cover.