"The boxes, damn it!"
Grandma, The American Dream, Edward Albee 1961
Please don't get me wrong. I love this stuff as much as the next guy, maybe more — but yes, boxes for boxes' sake. Let's stop pretending there's any serious reason why a house should look this way.
I realize that this snow and slush can make anything look like the prelude to a warm bath and a razor blade, but 291 and 293 Lyon North are actually quite dashing in summer. According to Google Street View, #293 (on your right) went up some time before April 2014 while 291 was likely completed over the summer of 2016.
Each house replaced a perfunctory brick-on-wood two-storey abode, both original to the site and both built (from what I can glean) very close to 1900. You can see them here — Goad (1902) listed 293 as a one-and-half because of its Mansard roof-line.
I say "houses" but these are multi-unit rental buildings. As described online, #291 consists of ten (yes, ten) units while the number in 293 is not presently specified.
