From Michael Alexander:
.
Moray Circus so reminds me of Fairhazel Gardens, South Hampstead, where we lived while I was in B school in London. We checked it out on Google Maps, which of course didn’t exist in 1986 (when I would bike to Regent’s Park with a Macintosh with 512 kilobytes of memory strapped to the rack).
.
.
The remarkable thing about Fairhazel Gardens was the block layout. On all four sides, houses surrounded a central commons. Each house had small front and rear private gardens, but the large commons at the core of the block was used by all— and not exclusively by block residents, as there were small entrances from the two long flanking streets that were publicly accessible.
.
I’ve since thought that this was one of the best urban blocks I’ve ever seen. …
.
.
With a lovely streetscape and scale, and at a good density, this would be a wonderful model for Vancouver’s more suburban neighbourhoods. I expect most buildings on and around Fairhazel Gardens have been subdivided into at least three flats.
.
If Vancouverites bemoan housing prices here, they should try London: housing prices are up 20 percent in the past three months.
