This corner in the Annex is interesting as it clearly illustrates the character change a street or avenue can have in relationship to property owners choice of fence type or simply having a fence. Traditionally in Toronto tall fences on front residential lots were rare and when they were used they were metal fences that one could see thorough.
Looking at the image above you may see how differently the unfenced home lot relates to the street as compared to the fenced home lots.
The fences above seem to be constructed to create a private side yard, which of course is the property owners right, and there want of more private space in busy city area has be considered. But how it changes the street scape, completely removing the sense of openness and removing from the general community the street to home drop-back that is so important to casual street meet talks and gatherings. the fences that come right to the street seem to force walkers and persons standing on the sidewalk out onto the street.
The City of Toronto fence bylaw [link]
1 Comment
They could have at least mitigated the monolithic appearance of the fence by leaving some space for plantings.