Townhouse in New York's Upper East Side

A townhouse in American English terminology describes medium-density housing in cities, usually but not necessarily terraced (row housing) or semi-detached. In England the term is not used correctly in this sense, but has become much favoured by estate-agents for positive marketing effect.

Historical usage[link]

Historically in English usage, the term referred to the city residence of a member of the aristocracy. Most such figures owned one or more English country houses, in which they lived for much of the year. From the 18th century, aristocratic landowners and their servants in England would move to town during the social season (when major balls and drawing rooms took place), and when parliament was in session.

England[link]

Apsley House, looking north from the roundabout of Hyde Park Corner, London

Spencer House, St. James's, London, one of the last surviving true town houses still owned by the noble family which built it

In the United Kingdom and Ireland most townhouses were terraced. Only a small minority of them, generally the largest, were detached, but even aristocrats whose country houses had grounds of hundreds or thousands of acres, often lived in terraced houses in town. For example the Duke of Norfolk owned Arundel Castle in the country, while his London house was a terraced house called Norfolk House in St. James's Square - although that particular terraced house was over 100 feet (30 metres) wide. However, the British and Irish architectural term for a house with party walls with its neighbours on both sides was always "terraced house", not townhouse. There was little difference between the more modest terraced townhouses of less opulent members of the aristocracy, and the terraced houses of wealthy middle class Londoners, but they were generally located in different districts.

Many aristocratic townshouses were demolished or ceased to be used for residential purposes following the First World War. In the post World War II period large terraced houses in general in London and other British cities were divided into flats or converted into offices. However, in the early 21st century this trend is being reversed to some extent, as there is less demand for old houses as offices nowadays since open plan layouts are preferred, and the number of very rich people in London has risen. For example, in 2004, the Grosvenor Group sold two grand terraces houses in Belgrave Square which had been in office use, for reconversion to family houses. The asking price was £12 million each.

Nowadays for marketing purposes British property developers and estate agents often call new city terraced houses "townhouses", an Americanism, probably because for many potential buyers the main mental association of terraced housing is with working class terraced housing. The aristocratic pedigree of terraced housing is widely forgotten, and "townhouse" still has more exclusive connotations for marketing purposes.

London[link]

Whilst most English examples of the townhouse occur in the capital, the provincial cities also contain some historical examples, for example Bampfylde House (destroyed in WW II) in Exeter, the county capital of Devon, the town house of Baron Poltimore of the Bampfylde family, whose main country seat was Poltimore House in Devon. Latterly most London examples were located in Westminster whilst Kensington, Hampstead etc., were countryside hamlets outside London until the 19th.c., so mansions in these areas, for example Holland House, cannot be considered as true historical townhouses. In the Middle Ages the London residences of the great nobles were generally situated within the walls of the City of London but gradually spread onto The Strand, the main ceremonial thoroughfare from The City to the Palace of Westminster where parliamentary and court business were transacted. The greatest residence here was the Savoy Palace, residence of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the richest man in the kingdom in his age. The Strand had the advantage of river frontage to the Thames which gave the nobles their own private landing places. Covent Garden, adjoining The Strand to the north was also popular. The next fashion was to move still further westwards to St James's, to be near the Tudor royal court, and Mayfair, adjacent to the north. The final fashion before the modern era was for a residence on the former marsh-land of Belgravia, developed by the Duke of Westminster. The following examples, most of which are now demolished, are comparable to the Parisian Hôtel particulier:

• Northumberland House (demolished)
• Spencer House formerly the London residence of the Earls Spencer
• Grosvenor House (replaced by eponymous hotel)
• Bridgewater House, Westminster
• Pembroke House, Whitehall
• Clarendon House
• Essex House
• Burlington House (now home of Royal Academy)
• Somerset House
• Devonshire House (formerly on Piccadilly, opposite present Ritz Hotel. Formerly Berkeley House)
• Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace)
• Marlborough House residence of the Prince of Wales and later Queen Mary the Queen Mother (1936–1953) (now the Commonwealth Secretariat)
• Londonderry House (formerly on Piccadilly)
• Crewe House, Curzon Street, Mayfair. Currently the Saudi Arabian embassy.
• Apsley House
• Chesterfield House (demolished 1937, now eponymous Mayfair block of flats)
• Norfolk House
• Montagu House
• Lansdowne House
• Clarence House the residence of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and now the residence of Charles, Prince of Wales
• The Albany
• Dorchester House
• Bedford House

Scotland[link]

Edinburgh[link]

Bute House, Edinburgh

• Bute House - Former residence of the Marquis of Bute in Edinburgh's Charlotte Square, now the official residence of Alex Salmond (First Minister of Scotland)
• Dundas House - Former Edinburgh home of Sir Lawrence Dundas, now the principal branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
• John Knox House - A 15th century townhouse on the Royal Mile.
• The Georgian House, Edinburgh - Restored 18th century townhouse which is open to the public.
• Old Moray House - 17th Century dwelling of the Earl's of Moray located in the Canongate.
• Queensberry House - Bought in 1689 by William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry. It is now incorporated into the new Scottish Parliament Building and houses the office of the Presiding Officer.

Ireland[link]

Dublin[link]

Leinster House, 18th century Dublin townhouse of the Duke of Leinster. It is now the seat of parliament.

Georgian Dublin consisted of five Georgian squares, which contained the townhouses of prominent peers. The squares were Merrion Square, St. Stephen's Green, Fitzwilliam Square, Ruthland Square (now called Parnell Square) and Mountjoy Square. Many of the townhouses in these squares are now offices while some have been demolished.

• Leinster House - residence of the Duke of Leinster (Ireland's premier duke) and now the seat of Oireachtas Éireann, the Irish parliament.
• Powerscourt House - Dublin residence of Viscount Powersourt, a prominent Irish peer. It was sensitively converted into an award-winning shopping centre in the 1980s. (See an image of one of its decorated ceilings here.)

Canada and United States[link]

Townhouses in Portland, Oregon

Traditional townhouses in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of New York City.

In the United States and Canada, a townhouse has two connotations. The older predates the automobile and denotes a house on a small footprint in a city, but because of its multiple floors (sometimes six or more), it has a large living space, often with servant's quarters. The small footprint of the townhouse allows it to be within walking or mass transit distance of business and industrial areas of the city, yet luxurious enough for wealthy residents of the city. In areas so densely built that detached single-family houses are uncommon or almost nonexistent, ownership of a townhouse connotes wealth. Some examples of cities where townhouses are occupied almost exclusively by the wealthy are New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Washington, DC, and San Francisco.

"Rowhouses" are similar, and consist of several adjacent (next to), uniform units originally found in urban areas on the east coast such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, but now found in lower-cost housing developments in suburbs as well. A rowhouse will generally be smaller and less luxurious than a dwelling called a townhouse.

The name "townhouse" or "townhomes" was later used to describe non-uniform units in suburban areas that are designed to mimic detached or semi-detached homes. Today, the name townhouse is used to describe units mimicking a detached home that are attached in a multi-unit complex. The distinction between dwellings called just "apartments" and those called "townhouses" is that townhouses usually consist of multiple floors and have their own outside door as opposed to having only one level and an interior hallway access. They can also be “stacked” and such townhouses have multiple units vertically (typically two), normally each with its own private entrance from the street or at least from the outside. They can be side by side in a row of three or more, in which case they are sometimes referred to as “rowhouses”. A townhouse in a group of two could be referred to as a townhouse but, in Canada and in the United States, it is typically called a semi-detached, and, in some areas of western Canada, a half-duplex.

An example of a non traditional "townhouse" that is in a complex akin to an apartment complex, is a two bedroom unit with the living room in the front on the lower level, kitchen in the back. Two bedrooms are on the front and back of the upper level with a single bathroom between. This style has become less popular in areas where it has been adopted by 'rent control' or HUD apartments.

In Canada, single family dwellings, be they any type such as single family detached homes, apartments, mobile homes or townhouses for example, are split into two categories of ownership:

• Condominium (Strata Title in British Columbia and Alberta) where one owns the interior of the unit, and also a specified share of the undivided interest of the remainder of the building and land known as common elements.
• Freehold where one owns exclusively the land and the dwelling without any condominium aspects. In the United States this type of ownership called fee simple.

Condominium townhouses, just like condominium apartments, are often referred to as "condos", thus referring to the type of ownership rather than to the type of dwelling. Since apartment style condos are the most common, when someone refers to a "condo", many erroneously assume that it must be an apartment style dwelling and conversely that only apartment style dwellings can be condos. All types of dwellings can be condos and this is therefore true of townhouses. A "Brownstone" townhouse is a particular variety found in New York.

Asia, Australia and South Africa[link]

A section of Boulevard du Lac in The Beverly Hills, a private townhouse development in Tai Po, Hong Kong.

In Asia, Australia and South Africa, townhouses are generally found in complexes. Large complexes often have high security, resort facilities such as swimming pools, gyms, parks and playground equipment. Typically, a townhouse has a Strata Title, i.e. a type of title where the common property (landscaped area, public corridors, building structure etc.) is owned by a corporation of individual owners and the houses on the property are owned by the individual owners.

In population-dense Asian cities dominated by high-rise residential apartment blocks such as Hong Kong, townhouses in private housing developments remain almost exclusively populated by the very wealthy due to the rarity and relatively large sizes of the units. Prominent examples in Hong Kong include Severn 8, in which a 5,067-square-foot (470.7 m²) townhouse sold for HK$285 million (US$37 million) in 2008, or HK$57,000 (US$7,400) per square foot, a record in Asia, and The Beverly Hills, which consists of multiple rows of townhouses with some units as large as 11,000 square feet (1,000 m²).Commonly in the suburbs of major cities an old house on a large block of land is demolished and replaced by a short row of townhouses, built 'end on' to the street for added privacy.

See also[link]

• English country house
• Great house
• Manor house
• Stately home
• Duplex (building)
• terrace (architecture)
• list of house types
• Hôtel particulier

Other famous London houses[link]

Among the most famous London houses not official residences of noble families also resident in the countryside are:

• 10 Downing Street - the residence of the Prime Minister, currently David Cameron
• 11 Downing Street - the residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, currently George Osborne

Bibliography[link]

• Cunningham, Peter. Hndbook of London Past and Present, London, 1850. Esp. listing in section 20: "Palaces & Chief Houses of the Nobility & Gentry in the Present Day".
• Daisy, Countess of Fingall, Seventy Years Young (The acclaimed autobiography of an Irish peer's wife, covering the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Though currently out of print the book is periodically reprinted.)

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