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Donia Zhang, York University, Canada
This paper highlights the key findings from the author’s 2015 book Courtyard Housing for Health and Happiness: Architectural Multiculturalism in North America. The study investigated the interrelations of housing-health-happiness, and examined health from a cultural perspective. It defined a courtyard as a “pedestrian, communal, outdoor space enclosed on three or four sides by buildings or walls, in which residents/tenants can sit, talk, and socialize with one another” (Zhang, 2015, p. 7). Although courtyard housing is an uncommon house type in North America, the number is rising. This article chronicles 100 years (1910s-2010s) of courtyard housing development in the USA and Canada, and argues that sustainable urbanization in North America must apply Architectural Multiculturalism. It further recommends new housing designs incorporating communal courtyards.
History of Courtyard Housing in North America
The courtyard housing development in North America evolved from two cultural roots at the turn of the 20th century. One branch emerged in Toronto, Ontario in the 1910s-1920s, designed in English Tudor style by Canadian architect Eden Smith (1858-1949), who was influenced by the “Garden City” movement initiated in the UK in 1898. The examples are the Bain Apartments Co-operative (former “Riverdale Courts,” b. 1913-1920s) (Austin, 2013), and the Spruce Court Housing Co-operative (b. 1913-1926). The State of Oregon also has a heritage of courtyard housing often built in English cottage style in Portland’s streetcar-served neighborhoods in 1900-1950 (City of Portland, 2008). Another branch appeared in California, USA, adapted from Spanish precedents, and designed and built by American architects Nina and Arthur Zwebell in the 1920s-1930s. It then spread to the city of New Orleans, and some other places in the USA (Hawthorne, 2005; Lasner, 2012; Leigh, 2004; Polyzoides, Sherwood, and Tice, 1982/1992; Reynolds, 2002).
Since the 1960s, courtyard housing revived and was constructed in American cities (Zhang, 2015). It was further resurrected as part of the New Urbanism movement in the 1990s. The outstanding examples are the Harper Court (b. 2002) in West Hollywood, California; the Meridian Court (b. 2004) in Pasadena, California, among others. Most of these projects are in Mediterranean style, designed or restored by American architects Stefanos Polyzoides and Elizabeth Moule, who attempted to reconnect with Los Angeles history and improve the urbanism of the city (Broffman, 2008; Jarmusch, 2004; Kellogg, 2006; Leigh, 2004; McDonald, 2005; Newman, 2002).
To achieve better social integration and cultural vitality, co-operative housing and cohousing started to be built in North America in the 1980s. The author observed that in 2013, 16 of 53 (30%) co-operative housing in Toronto have identified with one or more courtyards. In 2013-2014, the Canadian Cohousing Network (formed in 1992) as part of a global cohousing initi