We have all heard the shrill cry of ‘character’ as an encompassing phrase to justify any anti development position, however spurious. ‘Character’ in the discussion of an infill project is akin to Maude Flanders entering the scene exclaiming ‘would someone think of the children’, everyone feigns attention, then disregard the speaker, and carry on. Yet many locations have now passed a significant turning point, where newly built homes are the dominant context, due to so much building over the past decade that choice locations are becoming built out. And this can happen fast, enough turnover can occur overnight to overcome the context created by a pre WW1 streetscape. An interesting case study is found on the Inglewood street of 7 avenue. In the past three weeks, three homes have changed hands, into the clutches of the greediest and most ruthless of developers. And what of the character value of the three recently sold homes, homes soon to be demolished. Well, they dont amount to even a bag of dogshit combined and soon will be resting in peace at the local dump. Back to what is now contextual. On this block, only one of 15 properties will be original once the three new properties are built on, and the two under construction already are complete. That means the character on 7 ave is of new homes. The single prewar bungalow is out of context, representing a character that no longer suits the streetscape. Maybe someone should buy it and contribute further to the character of the community.
Here is a collage of the existing 7 ave streetscape. All of these are builder owned.