WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.160 I want you to picture a box, a tall, rectangular 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:07.839 and usually a fairly expensive box. It's maybe 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:09.960 the architectural equivalent of a paradox. Yeah. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:11.960 In one part of the world, if you own one, it 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:14.160 means you're a struggling millennial who got 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:16.539 priced out of the detached housing market. Right. 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:18.500 And this is the only way you get a front door 00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:20.620 that's actually your own. Yeah, that feels familiar. 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:23.399 But then in another part of the world, specifically 00:00:23.399 --> 00:00:26.500 on a certain hill in Hong Kong. Owning the exact 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:29.219 same structure almost down to the square footage 00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:33.479 means you are, well, billionaire. We're looking 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:35.539 at the townhouse. It has to be the most, I don't 00:00:35.539 --> 00:00:38.219 know, schizophrenic building type in our entire 00:00:38.219 --> 00:00:40.079 data set. I was going through the history logs 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:41.700 last night just preparing for this deep dive. 00:00:41.979 --> 00:00:45.000 And it is absolutely wild how this term has been 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.840 hijacked over the centuries. Hijacked is a strong 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:49.939 word. I think it's the right one. I mean, it 00:00:49.939 --> 00:00:52.500 started as this massive power move for the British 00:00:52.500 --> 00:00:54.799 aristocracy. We're talking literally a palace 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:58.219 in the city. And somehow, over 300 years, it 00:00:58.219 --> 00:01:00.979 morphed into the default suburban compromise. 00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:04.739 And that's exactly the mission today. We aren't 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:07.219 just looking at floor plans and, you know, real 00:01:07.219 --> 00:01:09.040 estate listings. We are going to try to unpack 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.019 the sociology of density. And the economics. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:14.439 The economics, for sure. We've got legal journals 00:01:14.439 --> 00:01:17.140 here on air rights, which is a... concept that's 00:01:17.140 --> 00:01:19.879 just fascinating in itself. We have historical 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:22.640 records on the London social season, and we have 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:27.079 some truly depressing real estate data that explains 00:01:27.079 --> 00:01:29.939 why a shared wall in New York costs more than 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:32.959 a mansion in Ohio. And we are definitely going 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:36.400 to tear apart the legal fiction that allows you 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:38.439 to own a house that is physically glued to your 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:41.379 neighbor's house. The freehold paradox. I flagged 00:01:41.379 --> 00:01:43.760 that in the notes. It just it feels like it shouldn't 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:45.939 be legally possible. But here we are. Here we 00:01:45.939 --> 00:01:47.659 are. And on top of that, we're going to look 00:01:47.659 --> 00:01:50.120 at the term itself, because if I asked you right 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:53.480 now to define townhouse, I mean, really define 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:55.140 it, you'd probably hesitate. Oh, absolutely. 00:01:55.379 --> 00:01:59.000 Is it a style? Is it legal status? Is it just 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.390 a marketing buzzword that realistic? agents use? 00:02:01.609 --> 00:02:03.670 I have literally had this argument with friends. 00:02:03.989 --> 00:02:06.189 One says they bought a townhouse, but they pay 00:02:06.189 --> 00:02:08.409 condo fees. Another one says, no, no, I own the 00:02:08.409 --> 00:02:10.750 land. It's a freehold townhouse. And then you 00:02:10.750 --> 00:02:13.750 go to London or New York and the word means something 00:02:13.750 --> 00:02:16.870 completely different than it does in, say, a 00:02:16.870 --> 00:02:19.870 suburb of Calgary or Phoenix. It's incredibly 00:02:19.870 --> 00:02:22.930 confusing. It is. It's deceptively simple. Most 00:02:22.930 --> 00:02:25.090 people hear townhouse and they have this vague 00:02:25.090 --> 00:02:28.219 image of a tall, skinny building. Yeah, attached 00:02:28.219 --> 00:02:30.639 to another one. Exactly. But when you actually 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:33.400 start digging into the sources, as we have for 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:36.099 this, you realize it is a term that is suffering 00:02:36.099 --> 00:02:38.960 from a massive identity crisis. Okay, so let's 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:40.840 set a baseline before we get too deep into the 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:43.500 weeds. What is the sort of dictionary definition 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:45.379 we're working with from the source material? 00:02:45.849 --> 00:02:47.729 The broad definition provided by our sources 00:02:47.729 --> 00:02:51.389 is fairly straightforward on the surface. A townhouse 00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:54.430 or townhome is a type of terraced housing. In 00:02:54.430 --> 00:02:56.909 the modern context, it is often a unit with multiple 00:02:56.909 --> 00:02:59.030 floors sitting on a very small footprint. And 00:02:59.030 --> 00:03:00.909 terrace just means they are stuck together in 00:03:00.909 --> 00:03:04.789 a row. Typically, yes. But here is the aha moment 00:03:04.789 --> 00:03:06.509 that we are going to build toward throughout 00:03:06.509 --> 00:03:09.949 this whole discussion. The definition shifts 00:03:09.949 --> 00:03:12.210 radically depending on whether you are looking 00:03:12.210 --> 00:03:15.090 at it through a historical lens. Or a legal one. 00:03:15.169 --> 00:03:18.090 Or a legal one. Absolutely. We are going to talk 00:03:18.090 --> 00:03:20.550 about the shocking difference between a condo 00:03:20.550 --> 00:03:23.250 and an apartment. Because, yes, there is a big 00:03:23.250 --> 00:03:25.810 difference. And later on, we are absolutely going 00:03:25.810 --> 00:03:28.169 to get into those eye -watering price tags in 00:03:28.169 --> 00:03:29.990 Asia I mentioned earlier. I saw those numbers 00:03:29.990 --> 00:03:33.439 in the notes. I am still recovering. $37 million 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:35.680 for a townhouse? That's not a house. That's a 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:38.219 small country's GDP. It's staggering. But let's 00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:39.840 start at the beginning. Let's go way back to 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:43.199 the word itself, townhouse. It seems obvious. 00:03:43.259 --> 00:03:45.719 It's a house in a town. But historically, it 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:48.580 meant something much, much more specific, didn't 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:51.580 it? It absolutely did. If we go back to the British 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:54.120 roots of the term, townhouse wasn't just a simple 00:03:54.120 --> 00:03:56.219 description of location. It was a description 00:03:56.219 --> 00:03:58.379 of status. I mean, we're talking about the 18th 00:03:58.379 --> 00:04:00.759 century and even before then. If you use the 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:02.560 word townhouse, you were referring specifically 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:05.580 to the city residents of a noble or a very wealthy 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:08.259 family. The key phrase there being city residents, 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:11.520 which implies they had another, probably bigger 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.430 residence somewhere else. Precisely. That is 00:04:14.430 --> 00:04:16.329 the critical distinction that's been lost over 00:04:16.329 --> 00:04:19.629 time. These families usually owned a main, much 00:04:19.629 --> 00:04:22.069 larger residence out in the country, a country 00:04:22.069 --> 00:04:25.889 house or an estate. The townhouse was effectively 00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:29.810 their secondary home. It was the pianotere for 00:04:29.810 --> 00:04:32.970 the aristocracy. That completely flips the modern 00:04:32.970 --> 00:04:36.269 narrative on its head. Today, so many of us think 00:04:36.269 --> 00:04:39.050 of a townhouse as a starter home or a compromise 00:04:39.050 --> 00:04:40.949 because you can't quite afford a big detached 00:04:40.949 --> 00:04:43.720 house with a yard. Right. But originally owning 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:46.019 a townhouse meant you were so incredibly wealthy 00:04:46.019 --> 00:04:48.620 that you needed a place to stay just for part 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:51.300 of the year. For the social season, yes, that's 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:53.759 exactly right. The source material really highlights 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:56.360 this concept of the social season. Now, when 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:58.199 most people hear that, they might think of, you 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:00.360 know, Bridgerton or fancy dances, which isn't 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:02.600 wrong. Jane Austen novels come to mind. Of course. 00:05:02.779 --> 00:05:05.040 But we need to look at the mechanics of it. Why 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.480 did these incredibly wealthy landowners need 00:05:07.480 --> 00:05:09.860 a whole secondary house in London? Why not just 00:05:09.860 --> 00:05:11.860 stay in their massive castle? Well, I assume 00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:14.120 a lot of it has to do with politics, right? Being 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:16.579 close to power. Power required proximity. You 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:19.259 have to remember, Parliament sat during specific 00:05:19.259 --> 00:05:22.279 months of the year. If you were a peer of the 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:25.779 realm, a lord, you had to be in London to vote, 00:05:25.959 --> 00:05:28.860 to lobby, to network, and most importantly, to 00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:31.459 be seen. So it was performance? It was absolutely 00:05:31.459 --> 00:05:34.019 a performance. But there was a secondary economic 00:05:34.019 --> 00:05:37.180 engine driving all of this. The marriage market. 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.430 Ah. So the townhouse was essentially a showroom. 00:05:40.509 --> 00:05:42.910 Crucially, yes. It was a stage. You brought your 00:05:42.910 --> 00:05:44.889 marriageable daughters to town and you needed 00:05:44.889 --> 00:05:47.350 a backdrop that screamed, we are powerful and 00:05:47.350 --> 00:05:50.990 wealthy. And this specific purpose directly dictated 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:53.769 the architecture of the building. How so? Well, 00:05:53.889 --> 00:05:56.910 if you look at the blueprints of a classic Georgian 00:05:56.910 --> 00:05:59.970 townhouse. The layout is very hierarchical. The 00:05:59.970 --> 00:06:02.170 ground floor, that's for business. Waiting rooms, 00:06:02.269 --> 00:06:04.310 maybe the men's study, the entrance hall, it's 00:06:04.310 --> 00:06:07.189 public facing. Okay. But the first floor, one 00:06:07.189 --> 00:06:10.129 flight up from the street, that was the piano 00:06:10.129 --> 00:06:12.610 nobile. Which translates to the noble floor. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:15.720 Exactly. The most important floor of the house. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:18.860 It had the highest ceilings, massive windows 00:06:18.860 --> 00:06:21.360 that let in all the light. This is where the 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:23.160 drawing room was. This is where you hosted the 00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:25.740 balls. You were literally elevating your social 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:28.860 status above the street noise and, frankly, the 00:06:28.860 --> 00:06:32.759 muck. And the servants are where in this picture? 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:35.439 Squeezed into the attic. attic and basement. 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:38.199 It was a vertical class system right there in 00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:40.339 the building. The ground floor was business. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:43.560 The first floor was for show. The second floor 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:46.160 for the family's private bedrooms. And then the 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:48.040 higher you went up the stairs, the lower your 00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:50.459 status until you hit the servants' small quarters 00:06:50.459 --> 00:06:52.519 right under the roof. It's all about efficiency, 00:06:52.779 --> 00:06:55.500 but it's an efficiency driven by a really strict 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:57.720 social stratification. That's a perfect way to 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:00.040 put it. So you see, it wasn't about efficiency 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:02.360 in terms of land use, not originally. It was 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:05.420 about access and status. The building itself 00:07:05.420 --> 00:07:08.079 was a status symbol. It wasn't an efficiency 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:11.139 compromise. It was a luxury convenience for the 00:07:11.139 --> 00:07:13.660 absolute elite. And even for the elite, they 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:15.259 were still often attached to their neighbors. 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:18.040 Yes. And because land in the city, especially 00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:21.279 in areas of London like Mayfair or St. James's, 00:07:21.319 --> 00:07:24.459 was at a premium even back then, these houses 00:07:24.459 --> 00:07:26.699 were built vertically and attached. But we should 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:29.040 not underestimate their scale. I was reading 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:31.360 about the Duke of Norfolk in the notes. This 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:33.819 part blew my mind. So he has a Rundle Castle 00:07:33.819 --> 00:07:36.279 in the country, which is, you know, a literal 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:38.819 castle. White Bar Castle, yeah. But his townhouse 00:07:38.819 --> 00:07:41.620 in London, Norfolk House in St. James's Square, 00:07:41.819 --> 00:07:44.480 it wasn't exactly a shoebox apartment. No, not 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:47.420 at all. The source notes that Norfolk House was 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:49.959 a terraced house, meaning it was attached to 00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:52.500 its neighbors, but it was over 100 feet wide. 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:55.500 100 feet. That is massive. That is wider than 00:07:55.500 --> 00:07:58.730 most large suburban lots today. And he's sharing 00:07:58.730 --> 00:08:01.430 a wall. He is. And that's a crucial point about 00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:03.509 British architecture that often gets misunderstood. 00:08:03.649 --> 00:08:06.509 Most British townhouses, even the grandest ones, 00:08:06.589 --> 00:08:09.670 are terraced. We tend to associate terraced with 00:08:09.670 --> 00:08:12.110 smaller working class housing, like the Coronation 00:08:12.110 --> 00:08:14.350 Street vibe. Right. The little brick houses all 00:08:14.350 --> 00:08:17.089 in a row. But in this context, even the super 00:08:17.089 --> 00:08:20.209 rich lived in attached homes in the city. There 00:08:20.209 --> 00:08:22.810 were exceptions, of course. A very small minority 00:08:22.810 --> 00:08:25.589 of the largest townhouses were detached. But 00:08:25.589 --> 00:08:29.540 the norm, even for a duke. was the terrace it's 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:32.039 just so interesting to visualize that you have 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:34.759 these incredibly wealthy aristocrats people who 00:08:34.759 --> 00:08:37.019 own thousands and thousands of acres in the country 00:08:37.019 --> 00:08:40.019 and yet when they come to london they are technically 00:08:40.019 --> 00:08:42.480 living in a row house it really speaks to the 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:44.980 density and the social fabric of the city at 00:08:44.980 --> 00:08:47.700 that time but the interiors That's where the 00:08:47.700 --> 00:08:50.600 townhouse legacy really begins. Despite the shared 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:52.659 walls, these were incredibly grand residences 00:08:52.659 --> 00:08:55.679 with ballrooms, drawing rooms, multiple dining 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:57.840 rooms, and of course extensive quarters for a 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.240 whole army of servants. So the definition of 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:02.840 townhouse here is just inextricably linked to 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:05.340 the town being the capital city, the center of 00:09:05.340 --> 00:09:07.159 the empire. That's it. It's a house for being 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:09.659 in town. Okay, so that's the aristocratic origin. 00:09:09.860 --> 00:09:14.480 The town in townhouse really meant London. Now, 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:16.120 let's cross the ocean. Let's bring this whole 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:18.659 concept to North America. The notes mention that 00:09:18.659 --> 00:09:21.679 in the U .S. and Canada, the term townhouse actually 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:24.580 splits into two very, very different connotations. 00:09:24.580 --> 00:09:26.679 Right. And the big dividing line, the historical 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:29.879 marker, is the automobile. You have the old townhouse 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:32.159 and you have the new townhouse. Let's unpack 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:34.860 the old townhouse first. This is the pre -automobile 00:09:34.860 --> 00:09:37.980 era. So I'm picturing places like New York, Boston, 00:09:38.259 --> 00:09:42.240 maybe Montreal or Philadelphia. Exactly. New 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:44.860 York City's famous brownstones are the classic 00:09:44.860 --> 00:09:47.220 example here. These buildings follow that original 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:50.100 European model. They have a very small urban 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:52.159 footprint, meaning they don't take up much land, 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:54.919 but they are built vertically, sometimes six 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:58.100 or even more floors. Six floors of stairs. That 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:00.460 is a daily workout right there. Let's talk about 00:10:00.460 --> 00:10:02.559 the word brownstone for a second. Is that just 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.460 a poetic name or is it an actual geological classification? 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:08.299 It's Triassic Jurassic sandstone. It's a real 00:10:08.299 --> 00:10:11.049 type of rock. And here is the great iron. It 00:10:11.049 --> 00:10:12.929 was originally considered a cheap substitute 00:10:12.929 --> 00:10:15.629 for better materials. Yeah. In the early 19th 00:10:15.629 --> 00:10:18.649 century, if you were really rich, you built with 00:10:18.649 --> 00:10:22.850 marble or limestone. Brownstone was soft. It 00:10:22.850 --> 00:10:25.309 was easy to quarry in the region. It was abundant. 00:10:25.669 --> 00:10:28.649 It was, and I'm not kidding, basically the vinyl 00:10:28.649 --> 00:10:31.429 siding of the 1850s. And now people pay $10 million 00:10:31.429 --> 00:10:33.909 for it. Scarcity completely flips the script. 00:10:34.029 --> 00:10:36.429 But the design logic in New York was a bit different 00:10:36.429 --> 00:10:38.610 from London. In London, you had the aristocracy. 00:10:38.929 --> 00:10:42.250 In New York, you had this rising merchant class. 00:10:42.509 --> 00:10:45.049 They needed density because Manhattan is an island. 00:10:45.110 --> 00:10:47.070 You physically cannot sprawl. There's nowhere 00:10:47.070 --> 00:10:49.769 to go. Nowhere to go. So the stoop culture was 00:10:49.769 --> 00:10:52.009 born. The high staircase leading up to the front 00:10:52.009 --> 00:10:54.250 door. I see those in movies all the time. It's 00:10:54.250 --> 00:10:56.690 such an iconic New York image. Right. But that 00:10:56.690 --> 00:10:59.350 stoop wasn't just aesthetic. It was deeply practical. 00:10:59.549 --> 00:11:01.909 It was sanitary. In the horse and carriage era, 00:11:02.049 --> 00:11:04.740 the streets were... Well, let's just say they 00:11:04.740 --> 00:11:06.919 were biologically active. Manure. You mean manure. 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:09.320 And mud and trash and whatever else. By raising 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:11.820 the main living floor, the parlor floor, up a 00:11:11.820 --> 00:11:14.279 massive flight of stairs, you were lifting your 00:11:14.279 --> 00:11:16.159 living room out of the smell zone. Oh, that's 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:19.220 brilliant. And the garden level underneath, which 00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:21.220 everyone fights for now because it has backyard 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:23.860 access, that was originally the service entrance. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:25.899 That's where deliveries came in, where the kitchen 00:11:25.899 --> 00:11:28.700 often was. That is fascinating. So the most desirable 00:11:28.700 --> 00:11:31.539 part of a modern brownstone was basically the 00:11:31.539 --> 00:11:33.879 delivery entrance. Exactly. But historically, 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:36.840 this whole design served a very specific purpose. 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:39.919 Before cars, you needed to be within walking 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:42.519 distance or later mass transit distance of the 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:45.080 business and industrial areas. But if you were 00:11:45.080 --> 00:11:47.210 wealthy, you didn't want to in a tenement. You 00:11:47.210 --> 00:11:49.909 wanted space. So the solution was to stack the 00:11:49.909 --> 00:11:52.690 space vertically. And because they are in these 00:11:52.690 --> 00:11:55.389 incredibly dense cities like New York, Philadelphia, 00:11:55.809 --> 00:11:59.250 Montreal and San Francisco, these old townhouses 00:11:59.250 --> 00:12:02.370 are incredibly scarce today. And scarcity drives 00:12:02.370 --> 00:12:05.889 value. In these specific dense urban cores, the 00:12:05.889 --> 00:12:08.610 detached single family home is almost non -existent 00:12:08.610 --> 00:12:11.669 or just astronomically expensive. So the historic 00:12:11.669 --> 00:12:14.149 townhouse becomes the premier residential asset. 00:12:14.389 --> 00:12:16.950 It is the closest thing to a house you can get 00:12:16.950 --> 00:12:19.320 in the city center. Okay, so that's the romantic, 00:12:19.539 --> 00:12:22.820 historic, pre -car townhouse. Now let's talk 00:12:22.820 --> 00:12:24.440 about the one that most of us are probably more 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:27.960 familiar with, the new townhouse, the post -automobile 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.460 version. This is a different beast entirely, 00:12:30.740 --> 00:12:34.220 a whole other species. Over time, the term townhouse 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:37.000 in North America evolved. It came to describe 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:40.639 these often non -uniform living units that are 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:43.139 specifically designed to mimic a detached home, 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:46.580 but usually in a suburban setting. Mimic is a 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:48.740 very interesting word choice there. It suggests 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:50.340 they are trying to be something they aren't. 00:12:50.340 --> 00:12:52.659 Well, in a way they are. They are trying to offer 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:55.570 the feeling of a house. The private entrance, 00:12:55.809 --> 00:12:58.470 the multiple floors, maybe a tiny patch of grass 00:12:58.470 --> 00:13:01.970 without the land cost of a truly detached home. 00:13:02.169 --> 00:13:04.409 And the sources make a very important distinction 00:13:04.409 --> 00:13:07.450 here. How do you tell a new townhouse from an 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:09.370 apartment? I feel like this is where people, 00:13:09.509 --> 00:13:11.730 including me, get tripped up constantly. The 00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:13.830 door distinction is the easiest rule of thumb. 00:13:13.990 --> 00:13:16.509 A townhouse almost always has its own outside 00:13:16.509 --> 00:13:18.629 door. You walk off the street or the sidewalk 00:13:18.629 --> 00:13:21.169 or a path directly into your unit. No shared 00:13:21.169 --> 00:13:23.919 hallway. Exactly. An apartment, on the other 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:27.419 hand, is typically accessed via an interior hallway 00:13:27.419 --> 00:13:29.960 or maybe an exterior balcony walkway that you 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:32.179 share with other residents. So if I have to walk 00:13:32.179 --> 00:13:34.840 through a lobby, wave at a concierge, and take 00:13:34.840 --> 00:13:36.919 an elevator to get to my front door, I'm in an 00:13:36.919 --> 00:13:38.899 apartment building. Generally, yes, that's a 00:13:38.899 --> 00:13:40.840 very clear sign. And there is another layer to 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:44.700 it, verticality. Townhouses are typically multi 00:13:44.700 --> 00:13:46.759 -floor units. You have your living room downstairs, 00:13:47.100 --> 00:13:49.759 bedrooms upstairs. Apartments are usually single 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:52.480 -floor flats. That makes a lot of sense. But 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:54.279 then there's the ownership piece, which gets 00:13:54.279 --> 00:13:57.220 muddy in the U .S., especially outside the big 00:13:57.220 --> 00:14:00.840 old cities. Townhouse implies you own it. Apartment 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:04.039 implies you rent it. That is a very common linguistic 00:14:04.039 --> 00:14:06.120 shortcut in the U .S. It's a cultural convention. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:08.960 If you say I live in a townhouse, people will 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:10.639 assume you bought it. If you say I live in an 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:12.919 apartment, they assume you pay rent. But that's 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:15.580 not actually a legal rule. Not at all. It's just 00:14:15.580 --> 00:14:18.159 a cultural habit. You can absolutely rent a townhouse. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:20.659 And as we'll get into, you can absolutely own 00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:22.620 an apartment. Before we get to the legal stuff, 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:24.320 which I know is where the real complexity lies, 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:26.679 I want to clarify another term that pops up in 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:30.000 the notes. The row house. I have to admit, I 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:31.919 always thought row house and townhouse were basically 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.179 synonyms. Are they not? They are very close cousins, 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:37.860 but they're not twins. The source material provides 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:40.940 some really fascinating nuance here. A row house 00:14:40.940 --> 00:14:44.659 consists of several adjacent uniform units. Think 00:14:44.659 --> 00:14:46.940 of those pictures of Bala Pamor or Philadelphia 00:14:46.940 --> 00:14:49.820 where you see block after block of identical 00:14:49.820 --> 00:14:52.779 brick facades. Right, the continuous roof line. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:54.759 It looks like someone just used the copy -paste 00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:56.620 tool in real life. That's a great way to describe 00:14:56.620 --> 00:15:00.110 it. Continuous roof, continuous foundation. Visually, 00:15:00.289 --> 00:15:02.909 it is a single long structure that has just been 00:15:02.909 --> 00:15:05.990 sliced into individual units. Historically, row 00:15:05.990 --> 00:15:07.970 houses were found in those older urban areas, 00:15:08.090 --> 00:15:11.309 Baltimore, Philly, New Orleans. But the distinction 00:15:11.309 --> 00:15:14.350 is often about perceived luxury in size. The 00:15:14.350 --> 00:15:16.610 expert analysis in our sources suggests that 00:15:16.610 --> 00:15:19.029 a row house is generally considered to be smaller 00:15:19.029 --> 00:15:21.110 and less luxurious than what is traditionally 00:15:21.110 --> 00:15:24.429 called a townhouse. A townhouse implies a bit 00:15:24.429 --> 00:15:27.350 more architectural variation between units, maybe 00:15:27.350 --> 00:15:29.639 a bit more square footage. different setbacks. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.019 A row house implies utility and uniformity. It 00:15:34.019 --> 00:15:35.840 was often housing for the industrial workforce, 00:15:36.139 --> 00:15:38.220 whereas the townhouse might have been for the 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:40.580 manager or the owner. Is there a construction 00:15:40.580 --> 00:15:43.639 difference or is it just vibes? Oh, there is 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:45.580 a huge construction difference and it gets right 00:15:45.580 --> 00:15:47.299 to the heart of the ownership question later. 00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:50.440 This brings us to the physics of the thing. We 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:53.059 need to talk about the party wall. The party 00:15:53.059 --> 00:15:55.549 wall. Which sounds fun, but I assume it probably 00:15:55.549 --> 00:15:57.950 isn't. Not unless you really, really like hearing 00:15:57.950 --> 00:16:00.350 your neighbor's party know. In a traditional 00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:03.570 1920s row house, you often have a single wall 00:16:03.570 --> 00:16:05.789 dividing the units. You are literally sharing 00:16:05.789 --> 00:16:08.230 the bricks. So my wall is their wall. Exactly. 00:16:08.529 --> 00:16:11.330 A double brick thickness acts as a structural 00:16:11.330 --> 00:16:13.850 load -bearer for the floor joists on both sides 00:16:13.850 --> 00:16:16.649 of the wall. Your floor beams are inserted into 00:16:16.649 --> 00:16:18.730 the same row of bricks as your neighbor's floor 00:16:18.730 --> 00:16:21.970 beams. So, strictly speaking, the buildings are 00:16:21.970 --> 00:16:25.399 structurally codependent. If I decide to bulldoze 00:16:25.399 --> 00:16:27.340 my house, my neighbor's house might actually 00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:29.679 fall down. It would certainly be very unstable. 00:16:29.779 --> 00:16:32.200 That's the interdependence of the classic row 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:35.080 house. But modern building codes, well, they 00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:38.080 hate that. I can imagine. Fire hazard, noise. 00:16:38.220 --> 00:16:42.039 Huge fire separation issues. Terrible acoustic 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:45.279 isolation. So in modern townhouses, you see a 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.899 major shift toward what's called the double -leaf 00:16:47.899 --> 00:16:50.620 wall. Two separate walls with a gap in between. 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:53.259 Ideally, yes. It might only be a one inch air 00:16:53.259 --> 00:16:56.320 gap. It might be filled with fire resistant insulation. 00:16:56.779 --> 00:16:59.259 But legally and more importantly, physically, 00:16:59.500 --> 00:17:02.179 the structures are decoupled. That one inch of 00:17:02.179 --> 00:17:04.220 air is the difference between I can hear your 00:17:04.220 --> 00:17:06.500 TV and I can hear you thinking. And that one 00:17:06.500 --> 00:17:08.619 inch of air must drive the cost up significantly. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:11.440 You're building four walls for two houses instead 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:13.980 of three walls. Precisely. And this leads to 00:17:13.980 --> 00:17:16.160 some very confusing terminology in the modern 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:18.440 real estate market. We have to talk about stacked 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:20.960 townhouses. This is where you have a townhouse, 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:24.160 on top of another townhouse. Yes. The sources 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:26.660 describe these as homes with multiple units stacked 00:17:26.660 --> 00:17:29.960 vertically. Typically two. But here is the key 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:33.240 that makes them townhouse -like. Normally, each 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:35.839 one has its own private entrance from the street 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:38.440 or the outside. OK, so the bottom unit walks 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:41.420 in at ground level and the top unit maybe has 00:17:41.420 --> 00:17:43.039 a staircase on the side of the building that 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:44.980 goes up to their door on the second floor. Exactly. 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:47.799 And this is where the terminology just goes completely 00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:51.259 into flux. If you have these stacked units side 00:17:51.259 --> 00:17:53.640 by side in a row of three or more, they're often 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:56.619 called row houses. But if you just have a group 00:17:56.619 --> 00:18:00.180 of two left and right or up and down, the U .S. 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:02.500 and Canada have a dozen different names for them. 00:18:02.700 --> 00:18:05.799 Semi -detached, duplex, half duplex. Half duplex. 00:18:05.819 --> 00:18:07.089 That definitely sounds... Sounds like a Western 00:18:07.089 --> 00:18:09.569 Canadian slang term. It is. In Western Canada, 00:18:09.690 --> 00:18:12.170 a half duplex is just one side of a two -unit 00:18:12.170 --> 00:18:14.869 building. But the point is the townhouse category 00:18:14.869 --> 00:18:17.710 is broad enough to include these stacked configurations 00:18:17.710 --> 00:18:20.430 as long as they maintain that private street 00:18:20.430 --> 00:18:22.849 entrance and usually have multiple levels within 00:18:22.849 --> 00:18:25.670 the unit itself. Okay, let's pivot to the topic 00:18:25.670 --> 00:18:27.769 that I think causes the most arguments at dinner 00:18:27.769 --> 00:18:31.710 parties. Condo versus freehold. This is the part 00:18:31.710 --> 00:18:35.029 that trips up every single first -time homebuyer. 00:18:35.309 --> 00:18:37.029 You see a building that looks like a townhouse. 00:18:37.089 --> 00:18:39.809 You assume I own it. But the legal wrapper can 00:18:39.809 --> 00:18:42.109 be completely different. This is such a crucial 00:18:42.109 --> 00:18:44.730 distinction and we need to just debunk the myth 00:18:44.730 --> 00:18:48.990 right now. Condo refers to the type of ownership, 00:18:49.190 --> 00:18:52.430 not the type of dwelling. Say that again because 00:18:52.430 --> 00:18:54.829 I think that's the key. Condo is a form of ownership, 00:18:54.930 --> 00:18:57.670 not a style of building. A townhouse can be a 00:18:57.670 --> 00:19:01.009 condo. A detached house can be a condo. A boat 00:19:01.009 --> 00:19:03.529 slip in a marina can be a condo. So condo is 00:19:03.529 --> 00:19:05.609 just a legal wrapper you put around a piece of 00:19:05.609 --> 00:19:08.109 property. Correct. The Canadian model, which 00:19:08.109 --> 00:19:10.809 applies broadly to how this works in many common 00:19:10.809 --> 00:19:12.690 law jurisdictions around the world, breaks it 00:19:12.690 --> 00:19:14.710 down very nicely. You have condominium, which 00:19:14.710 --> 00:19:16.529 is often called strata title in other places 00:19:16.529 --> 00:19:19.710 like Australia. In this model, you own the interior 00:19:19.710 --> 00:19:22.269 of your unit, the paint to paint, as they sometimes 00:19:22.269 --> 00:19:25.190 say, the airspace inside. Right. From the drywall 00:19:25.190 --> 00:19:28.650 in. from the drywall in. But you also own a specified 00:19:28.650 --> 00:19:31.230 share of the common elements. That means you 00:19:31.230 --> 00:19:33.910 co -own a tiny percentage of the roof, the exterior 00:19:33.910 --> 00:19:36.109 walls, the land underneath the parking lot, the 00:19:36.109 --> 00:19:39.529 swimming pool. You are effectively a shareholder 00:19:39.529 --> 00:19:42.450 in the physical structure of the entire complex. 00:19:42.829 --> 00:19:45.670 Which is why you pay condo fees. You're paying 00:19:45.670 --> 00:19:47.769 to a collective pot to maintain all those things 00:19:47.769 --> 00:19:50.049 you own collectively with your neighbors. Exactly. 00:19:50.190 --> 00:19:52.289 You have to look at the cadastral map. That's 00:19:52.289 --> 00:19:55.220 the legal survey of the land. In a condo or strata 00:19:55.220 --> 00:19:57.960 title, your legal property line is effectively 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:00.759 a 3D cloud of air floating inside the building. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:03.759 You own the air volume inside the drywall, the 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:06.220 drywall itself, the studs behind it, the wood 00:20:06.220 --> 00:20:08.740 on the outside. That all belongs to the condominium 00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:10.799 corporation. So if I want to punch a hole in 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:13.859 my wall to run a new HDMI cable... In a pure 00:20:13.859 --> 00:20:16.339 condo model, you are technically vandalizing 00:20:16.339 --> 00:20:19.059 corporate property. In practice, there are rules, 00:20:19.259 --> 00:20:21.460 but technically you need permission for major 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:24.099 alterations. And this is why the fees are so 00:20:24.099 --> 00:20:26.460 important. In a condo, you're paying a monthly 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:29.500 fee into a reserve fund because eventually that 00:20:29.500 --> 00:20:32.099 shared roof will need replacing and the corporation 00:20:32.099 --> 00:20:34.359 has to have the money saved up to pay for it. 00:20:34.460 --> 00:20:36.799 Okay, so that's the condo model. Now contrast 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:39.299 that with freehold. Freehold is what most people 00:20:39.299 --> 00:20:41.740 think of when they think of owning a house. In 00:20:41.740 --> 00:20:44.460 a freehold setup, You own the land and the dwelling 00:20:44.460 --> 00:20:47.140 on it exclusively. You own the dirt, you own 00:20:47.140 --> 00:20:49.779 the roof, you own the bricks. The property line 00:20:49.779 --> 00:20:52.019 is a tight rectangle that goes around your house's 00:20:52.019 --> 00:20:54.660 perimeter on the ground, and legally it extends 00:20:54.660 --> 00:20:56.839 from the center of the earth up to the sky. But 00:20:56.839 --> 00:20:58.619 wait, this is what I'm still struggling with. 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:01.259 If I own a townhouse and it's physically attached 00:21:01.259 --> 00:21:03.740 to my neighbor's townhouse, how can I possibly 00:21:03.740 --> 00:21:07.220 be freehold? If my roof leaks, it might affect 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:10.599 his roof. If my foundation cracks, it could pull 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:13.549 his down with it. And this is the freehold townhouse 00:21:13.549 --> 00:21:16.819 paradox. It seems impossible, but it exists. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:19.440 Remember that construction detail we talked about 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:22.259 just a minute ago? The double wall with the airspace? 00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:25.299 The famous inch of air. That inch of air is legally 00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:28.400 significant. It's everything. In a modern freehold 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:31.079 townhouse, the legal property line literally 00:21:31.079 --> 00:21:34.299 runs right through that gap. Technically, your 00:21:34.299 --> 00:21:36.519 building does not touch your neighbor's building. 00:21:36.599 --> 00:21:39.079 They just happen to sit incredibly close together, 00:21:39.299 --> 00:21:41.660 often on the same continuous foundation strip. 00:21:42.029 --> 00:21:44.670 That is just wild. So it's basically an optical 00:21:44.670 --> 00:21:47.490 illusion of attachment. In a legal sense, yes. 00:21:47.690 --> 00:21:50.849 And that tiny gap is what allows you to own the 00:21:50.849 --> 00:21:53.690 property free and clear of a condo board or mandatory 00:21:53.690 --> 00:21:56.269 monthly maintenance fees. But it also means if 00:21:56.269 --> 00:21:58.390 your roof needs replacing, you are the one climbing 00:21:58.390 --> 00:22:00.789 the ladder or writing the check entirely on your 00:22:00.789 --> 00:22:02.630 own. And what happens if the shared foundation 00:22:02.630 --> 00:22:05.130 cracks? That's the nightmare scenario. That's 00:22:05.130 --> 00:22:07.839 where it gets messy. Usually, there are easements 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.099 or covenants registered on the title of the property 00:22:10.099 --> 00:22:12.599 that say something like, if the common foundation 00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:15.140 fails, both parties are obligated to cooperate 00:22:15.140 --> 00:22:18.569 and share the cost of the repair. But unlike 00:22:18.569 --> 00:22:21.369 a condo, there is no pot of money sitting there 00:22:21.369 --> 00:22:23.269 waiting. You have to knock on your neighbor's 00:22:23.269 --> 00:22:25.509 door and say, hey, we need to come up with $10 00:22:25.509 --> 00:22:28.809 ,000. I can absolutely see why people get so 00:22:28.809 --> 00:22:31.470 confused. You can look at two rows of townhouses. 00:22:31.529 --> 00:22:33.490 They look completely identical. But one is a 00:22:33.490 --> 00:22:35.950 condo where the lawn is mowed for you, and the 00:22:35.950 --> 00:22:38.250 other is a freehold where you're out there pushing 00:22:38.250 --> 00:22:40.970 the mower yourself every Saturday. And that ownership 00:22:40.970 --> 00:22:43.289 structure dictates not just the cost, but the 00:22:43.289 --> 00:22:46.200 entire lifestyle. Freehold townhouses often carry 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:48.200 a price premium because people love the idea 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:50.079 of owning the land and having no monthly fees. 00:22:50.579 --> 00:22:53.099 But condo townhouses offer that lock and leave 00:22:53.099 --> 00:22:55.160 convenience that a lot of people are looking 00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:58.400 for. Speaking of premiums and costs, we have 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:01.000 to talk about what is happening on a global scale. 00:23:01.420 --> 00:23:03.619 Because if you think townhouses are just a suburban 00:23:03.619 --> 00:23:05.940 middle class thing in North America, you clearly 00:23:05.940 --> 00:23:08.279 have not been to Hong Kong. This was, without 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:10.140 a doubt, the most shocking part of the research 00:23:10.140 --> 00:23:13.279 for me. In places like Asia, Australia, and South 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:16.819 Africa, the term townhouse follows that modern 00:23:16.819 --> 00:23:19.859 North American sense of an attached or semi -detached 00:23:19.859 --> 00:23:23.279 home. But it manifests very differently in places 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:26.019 like South Africa and Australia. They are very 00:23:26.019 --> 00:23:28.740 often in complexes. You mean like gated communities? 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:32.079 Exactly. Large, sprawling complexes with high 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:35.500 security resort style facilities, pools, gyms, 00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:39.380 parks. In these regions, the strata title or 00:23:39.380 --> 00:23:41.960 condo model is absolutely dominant. The common 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:43.920 property is owned by a corporation of owners. 00:23:44.099 --> 00:23:46.039 It's a very communal way of living, but often 00:23:46.039 --> 00:23:48.299 behind high fences. But then you have Hong Kong. 00:23:48.500 --> 00:23:51.009 We have to talk about the property. The Hong 00:23:51.009 --> 00:23:53.369 Kong case study is just on another level. We 00:23:53.369 --> 00:23:55.109 have to remember the context. Hong Kong is a 00:23:55.109 --> 00:23:57.069 city completely dominated by high -rise apartment 00:23:57.069 --> 00:24:00.089 buildings. Land is arguably the scarcest and 00:24:00.089 --> 00:24:02.509 most valuable commodity there is. So the very 00:24:02.509 --> 00:24:04.930 idea of living on the ground, of having a front 00:24:04.930 --> 00:24:07.670 door that opens to the street, that is the ultimate 00:24:07.670 --> 00:24:10.170 unattainable luxury for almost everyone. The 00:24:10.170 --> 00:24:12.710 sheer scarcity makes it exclusive. Unbelievably 00:24:12.710 --> 00:24:15.579 so. Townhouses in private developments there 00:24:15.579 --> 00:24:18.180 are incredibly rare and are populated almost 00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:20.660 exclusively by the very wealthy. The sources 00:24:20.660 --> 00:24:24.119 point to this specific property, Severn 8 on 00:24:24.119 --> 00:24:27.839 Victoria Peak. I have the number here. A 5 ,067 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:30.900 square foot townhouse, which, to be fair, is 00:24:30.900 --> 00:24:32.599 a big house anywhere. That's a mansion, yeah. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:37.319 But in 2008, it sold for 285 million Hong Kong 00:24:37.319 --> 00:24:40.759 dollars. That translates to 37 million U .S. 00:24:40.779 --> 00:24:43.849 dollars. I did the math. That is... The GDP of 00:24:43.849 --> 00:24:46.470 a small island nation. Why? Is it made of solid 00:24:46.470 --> 00:24:49.089 gold? It's not the gold. It's the dirt and the 00:24:49.089 --> 00:24:51.750 air above the dirt. Hong Kong has some of the 00:24:51.750 --> 00:24:54.349 strictest land use policies in the world. The 00:24:54.349 --> 00:24:56.410 government owns almost all the land and leases 00:24:56.410 --> 00:24:58.410 it out for development. And because the population 00:24:58.410 --> 00:25:01.450 density is so extreme, the plot ratio, that's 00:25:01.450 --> 00:25:02.950 the amount of floor space you can build per square 00:25:02.950 --> 00:25:05.670 foot of land, is almost always maximized for 00:25:05.670 --> 00:25:07.289 massive towers. Right. You have to build up to 00:25:07.289 --> 00:25:08.730 get your money's worth from the expensive land. 00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:12.940 You have to. So to build a townhouse, a low rise 00:25:12.940 --> 00:25:14.880 structure on some of the most valuable land on 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:18.220 the planet is an act of pure economic defiance. 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:21.839 You are wasting all that potential vertical space. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:24.559 You are paying for the absence of neighbors above 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:26.660 you. You're literally paying for the empty air. 00:25:26.779 --> 00:25:29.299 That is the ultimate luxury in a city like Hong 00:25:29.299 --> 00:25:33.220 Kong. Silence. Privacy. The ability to walk out 00:25:33.220 --> 00:25:35.880 your own front door onto the ground. In a city 00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:38.940 of over 7 million people living in the sky, having 00:25:38.940 --> 00:25:41.759 a ground floor is the ultimate status symbol. 00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:44.440 It's the modern equivalent of the Duke of Norfolk's 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:48.220 London Palace. $37 million. That breaks down 00:25:48.220 --> 00:25:51.579 to about $7 ,400 U .S. dollars per square foot. 00:25:52.299 --> 00:25:54.240 For one square foot of floor. That was an Asian 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:55.839 record at the time. You're paying more for a 00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:57.400 square foot of floor than most people pay for 00:25:57.400 --> 00:26:00.289 a used car. And it's not just 7 -8. The notes 00:26:00.289 --> 00:26:02.049 also mention a development called the Beverly 00:26:02.049 --> 00:26:04.970 Hills, a massive complex in the Taipo District 00:26:04.970 --> 00:26:07.569 of Hong Kong. Some of those townhouse units are 00:26:07.569 --> 00:26:10.170 up to 11 ,000 square feet. 11 ,000 square feet. 00:26:10.190 --> 00:26:11.990 That's not a townhouse. That's a department store. 00:26:12.109 --> 00:26:14.869 At that scale, the term townhouse is really stretching 00:26:14.869 --> 00:26:17.369 all the way back to its aristocratic roots. It's 00:26:17.369 --> 00:26:20.609 a palace in the city. But it just shows the incredible 00:26:20.609 --> 00:26:24.349 elasticity of the word. It can mean a 900 square 00:26:24.349 --> 00:26:28.109 foot starter home in Ohio. Or an 11 ,000 square 00:26:28.109 --> 00:26:30.630 foot mansion overlooking Hong Kong. And there's 00:26:30.630 --> 00:26:33.349 also a trend mentioned in the sources about suburban 00:26:33.349 --> 00:26:35.829 replacement. This is happening in major cities 00:26:35.829 --> 00:26:38.369 all over the world. Yes, the infill development 00:26:38.369 --> 00:26:41.210 trend. You take an old house on a large block 00:26:41.210 --> 00:26:44.529 of land in a desirable suburb, maybe a rambling 00:26:44.529 --> 00:26:47.869 1950s bungalow with a huge backyard, and you 00:26:47.869 --> 00:26:50.470 demolish it. In its place, you build a short 00:26:50.470 --> 00:26:52.589 row of townhouses. I see this all the time in 00:26:52.589 --> 00:26:54.309 my neighborhood. They turn them sideways, right? 00:26:54.599 --> 00:26:56.539 The notes call it end on to the street. Correct. 00:26:56.680 --> 00:26:58.599 They build them perpendicular to the street with 00:26:58.599 --> 00:27:00.990 a shared driveway. This dramatically increases 00:27:00.990 --> 00:27:03.970 density. You turn one single family home to four 00:27:03.970 --> 00:27:06.509 or five separate units. But the end on design 00:27:06.509 --> 00:27:08.869 gives them a degree of privacy, so they aren't 00:27:08.869 --> 00:27:10.970 all just staring out at the traffic. It's a way 00:27:10.970 --> 00:27:13.369 of densifying the suburbs without building towers. 00:27:13.670 --> 00:27:15.890 Let's move inside the house for a bit. We talked 00:27:15.890 --> 00:27:18.190 about the verticality earlier, but I want to 00:27:18.190 --> 00:27:20.369 look at the architectural anatomy a bit more. 00:27:20.690 --> 00:27:23.089 I mean, the vertical lifestyle really changes 00:27:23.089 --> 00:27:25.529 how you live your day -to -day life. It absolutely 00:27:25.529 --> 00:27:28.269 does. When your kitchen is on the second floor 00:27:28.269 --> 00:27:30.710 and your bedroom is on the third, you live your 00:27:30.710 --> 00:27:33.539 life in layers. It forces a certain level of 00:27:33.539 --> 00:27:35.900 fitness, honestly. But what's so interesting 00:27:35.900 --> 00:27:38.319 is how the names of the rooms themselves have 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:41.200 evolved over time. The source material lists 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:43.740 a whole bunch of rooms found in townhouses, and 00:27:43.740 --> 00:27:46.200 it's this amazing mix of the ancient and the 00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:48.839 hypermodern. Yeah, I saw servants' quarters on 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:51.039 the list, which clearly harkens back to the old 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:53.960 aristocratic days. But then right next to it, 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:56.059 you have things like bonus rooms and great rooms. 00:27:56.299 --> 00:27:59.220 The great room is a fascinating echo of the past. 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:02.650 In medieval architecture, the great hall was 00:28:02.650 --> 00:28:04.869 the center of the house. It's where everyone 00:28:04.869 --> 00:28:08.490 ate, slept, and lived. One giant room. One giant 00:28:08.490 --> 00:28:11.569 room. Then we moved to the Victorian era with 00:28:11.569 --> 00:28:13.730 its separate parlors and drawing rooms and dining 00:28:13.730 --> 00:28:17.930 rooms. We compartmentalized our lives. Now, in 00:28:17.930 --> 00:28:20.990 the modern open concept townhouse, we are tearing 00:28:20.990 --> 00:28:23.430 down all those walls and going right back to 00:28:23.430 --> 00:28:26.150 the great room. A single open space for living, 00:28:26.329 --> 00:28:29.309 dining, and cooking. Time is a flat circle. It 00:28:29.309 --> 00:28:31.410 really is. And look at the evolution of the kitchen. 00:28:31.670 --> 00:28:34.369 The source mentions historical rooms like the 00:28:34.369 --> 00:28:37.309 Buttery or the Scullery. Buttery wasn't for butter 00:28:37.309 --> 00:28:39.450 was it i remember reading that no that's a common 00:28:39.450 --> 00:28:41.750 misconception it was originally from the old 00:28:41.750 --> 00:28:44.710 french word for bottle boute it was for storing 00:28:44.710 --> 00:28:47.710 butts of liquor or casks and the scullery was 00:28:47.710 --> 00:28:49.710 where the dirty washing up happened it was a 00:28:49.710 --> 00:28:52.849 wet messy room you kept hidden away right today 00:28:52.849 --> 00:28:55.109 we have the kitchenette and some smaller townhouses 00:28:55.109 --> 00:28:58.190 a tiny efficient cooking space but in larger 00:28:58.190 --> 00:29:00.680 ones the function has completely shifted The 00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:03.039 kitchen is now the showpiece. It's gone from 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:06.160 a hidden, grimy workspace for servants to the 00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:08.259 central display piece for the entire family. 00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:10.519 And the drawing room or parlor has now become 00:29:10.519 --> 00:29:13.940 the family room or the dim. Or the man cave, 00:29:14.059 --> 00:29:16.940 as the source notes, or a bonus room. But the 00:29:16.940 --> 00:29:19.299 fundamental design constraint always remains 00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:22.400 the footprint. Because the townhouse is, by its 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:25.119 nature, narrow, the biggest challenge for the 00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:27.819 architect is always light and flow. You usually 00:29:27.819 --> 00:29:30.000 only have windows on the front and the back. 00:29:30.460 --> 00:29:32.000 That's a really good point. If you're in the 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:33.940 middle of a long row, you have no side windows 00:29:33.940 --> 00:29:36.059 at all. It can feel like a tunnel if it's not 00:29:36.059 --> 00:29:38.779 designed well. Which is precisely why you see 00:29:38.779 --> 00:29:41.519 architectural features like skylights, open riser 00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:44.200 staircases, and extra high ceilings mentioned 00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:47.160 in the anatomical breakdown. They are all design 00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:49.880 tricks to try and pull natural light into the 00:29:49.880 --> 00:29:53.180 dark center of that deep, narrow rectangle. So 00:29:53.180 --> 00:29:55.380 we've gone from the Duke of Norfolk's 100 -foot 00:29:55.380 --> 00:29:58.240 -wide London Palace to the narrow brownstones 00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:01.000 of New York to the condo complexes of Australia 00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:04.099 and finally to the multi -million dollar bunkers 00:30:04.099 --> 00:30:06.799 of Hong Kong. It really is a massive... journey 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:09.380 for one building type. It is. And I think it 00:30:09.380 --> 00:30:10.940 brings us right back to that initial question 00:30:10.940 --> 00:30:14.119 we started with. What on earth is a townhouse? 00:30:14.339 --> 00:30:16.359 And it seems like the answer is, well, whatever 00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:18.400 the city and the economy needs it to be at that 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:21.099 moment in time. Exactly. The townhouse is an 00:30:21.099 --> 00:30:23.819 architectural chameleon. It adapts itself perfectly 00:30:23.819 --> 00:30:26.779 to the needs of the era. In the 18th century, 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:29.400 the need was proximity to the royal court and 00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:32.259 a place to host balls. In the 19th century, the 00:30:32.259 --> 00:30:34.539 need was proximity to the factory or the counting 00:30:34.539 --> 00:30:37.319 house. And in the 20th and 21st centuries, the 00:30:37.319 --> 00:30:40.220 need is for a detached home feel in a crowded 00:30:40.220 --> 00:30:42.640 suburb where land has become too expensive for 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:45.319 actual detached homes. It's the ultimate compromise 00:30:45.319 --> 00:30:48.210 building. But compromise sounds so negative. 00:30:48.349 --> 00:30:50.630 Maybe adaptation is a better word. Adaptation 00:30:50.630 --> 00:30:53.470 is much better. It allows for density without 00:30:53.470 --> 00:30:56.089 completely losing the human scale. You still 00:30:56.089 --> 00:30:57.769 have your own front door. You still have a roof 00:30:57.769 --> 00:30:59.829 that's yours. You aren't just a number in a 50 00:30:59.829 --> 00:31:02.509 -story elevator bank. It maintains a connection 00:31:02.509 --> 00:31:05.410 to the street. But I have to ask. Right. As our 00:31:05.410 --> 00:31:07.829 cities get denser and denser and land values 00:31:07.829 --> 00:31:10.390 keep skyrocketing, is the freehold townhouse 00:31:10.390 --> 00:31:13.789 doomed? Is that model sustainable? That is the 00:31:13.789 --> 00:31:16.700 perfect provocative thought to end on. As land 00:31:16.700 --> 00:31:19.859 values continue to rise, that legal fiction of 00:31:19.859 --> 00:31:22.599 the freehold townhouse, that little one inch 00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:25.700 of air, it becomes harder and harder to justify 00:31:25.700 --> 00:31:28.900 economically. The condo model, where you share 00:31:28.900 --> 00:31:30.940 the cost of the land and the structure among 00:31:30.940 --> 00:31:33.400 all the owners, is just so much more efficient 00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:35.740 from a development standpoint. So we might be 00:31:35.740 --> 00:31:38.140 looking at a future where the physical townhouse 00:31:38.140 --> 00:31:41.319 building survives, but the idea of owning it 00:31:41.319 --> 00:31:44.259 land and all becomes a quaint relic of the past. 00:31:44.759 --> 00:31:47.099 Just like the scullery or the buttery. It's very 00:31:47.099 --> 00:31:50.420 possible. The definition of townhouse might eventually 00:31:50.420 --> 00:31:53.019 divorce itself completely from the town and just 00:31:53.019 --> 00:31:56.680 become a synonym for suburban condo row. Well, 00:31:56.720 --> 00:31:58.359 that definitely gives us something to think about. 00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:00.200 Next time you're walking down the street and 00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:02.000 you see one of these developments, look closely 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:04.680 at that row of houses. Ask yourself, is that 00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:06.980 a row house? Is it a townhouse? Is it a condo? 00:32:07.259 --> 00:32:09.500 And most importantly, is there an inch of air 00:32:09.500 --> 00:32:11.519 between those bricks? It's all in the details. 00:32:12.430 --> 00:32:14.349 Thanks for listening to this deep dive. We'll 00:32:14.349 --> 00:32:15.089 catch you on the next one.