In these photographs from Augustus Brindle's "The Homes of Workingmen," Canadian Magazine, 22 (1903-1904), "the rough-cast house of the poorest workingman" (top) is contrasted with the skilled worker's home. "The corporation labourer, the rag-buyer and the itinerant seller of bananas and peanuts" were said to live in the rough-cast by this early observer of worker's housing. He described these houses as "one eye-arching seriatim of dingy wall as much similar as the tepees of Indians." For the middle-class observer at the turn of the century the poor were as exotic as the native peoples. The house in the lower photograph might have been lived in by skilled workers. Our early observer approved of the lawns, shrubs and trees and pointed to the verandahs as well as signs of proud proprietorship. He also noted the increased architectural ornamentation but perceptively commented that they were "trifles, chiefly imitations."
