The Helmsley NewStyle Townhome by Minto

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	Helmsley : Front Elevation

	Helmsley : Front Hall

	Helmsley : Living Room

	Helmsley : Dining Room

	Helmsley : Kitchen

The result is a spacious Ottawa new townhome with generous sized rooms in which the walls don't press against your shoulders as they might do in a poorly designed 20ft module.

The Helmsley is - unsurprisingly - the most popular of all Ottawa new homes builder Minto's New Style Townhomes in the only two communities where they were built; Chapman Mills in Barrhaven and Morgan's Grant in Kanata North (Now SOLD OUT in Morgan's Grant). It comprises 1703 square feet of finished space on the two main levels, plus a large basement which (if finished) would increase the total square footage to around 2045 sq ft.

Way back when townhouses were designed in Ottawa primarily as low-cost row houses for low-income groups, a minimum finished space of 1100 square feet was considered adequate for subsidies by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). We've come a long way since then.

Minto's Helmsley design, for example, includes not only a Great Room but the dimensions of all its other room are generous. So that, instead of feeling that the walls are closing in - as you might in a poorly designed 18ft or 20ft townhouse - there's room to step back and look around and decide, "Yeah, this gives me plenty of room to spread out in. I'll buy it!"

One of the most important rooms in any Ottawa new home nowadays has become the Home Office. That's because most Ottawa households possess at least one computer, and most users are habitually online to obtain information, check out the news, shop around, and buy goods and services online. So where can you put all that hardware? Not only a computer but also the scanner and printer and anything needed for the home network.

It's no longer enough to use the third or fourth bedroom or the basement as a temporary office. People want a permanent one. And Minto have given their 9' x 10'4 home office a 9ft ceiling, and placed it in front, facing the street - which is ideal for people who work at home.

There have not been many real innovations in Ottawa townhouse designs in recent years, and the additional 4ft width of The Helmsley is surely by far the best of all. There are several reasons for saying that, but they all boil down to a feeling of spaciousness from the moment you enter it. So let's take a tour.

The garage that can be seen in the accompanying photograph is the standard 10ft x 20ft box, big enough to accommodate an average size vehicle - providing you watch out for the wing mirrors! But generous for smaller cars. And it is built on the side of the house instead of the old-fashioned way, in front.

If we enter the house from the garage, instead of beneath the front porch, we face a powder room that is not the narrow 6ft x 3ft powder room (or thereabouts) but a roomy square that easily accommodates the graceful pedestal sink and toilet. The coat closet is right beside it.

Then, up two steps from the sunken foyer, we are regaled by a large Great Room 13'4 x 18'9. We very much doubt if there is a bigger Great Room in any other Ottawa townhome unless it is an expensive custom-built house. And what makes this one appear even bigger are the sight-lines that direct you to the open-plan rooms beside it. There is an open kitchen with an island and a 10ft x 9ft Dining or Breakfast Room.

Upstairs is a master bedroom 15'4 x 15' - bigger even than you'd expect to find in an average Ottawa single family home. Adjoining it are an en-suite bathroom with a Roman Tub and a generous walk-in closet.

The two minor bedrooms are reasonable in size for an Ottawa townhome; 11'2 x 10'8 and 10'2 x 11'7.

The outside of the house is well designed and entirely clad in brick across the front.

The way prices have risen in Ottawa and Canada, Minto have designed a multi-purpose new home that can be marketed as a basic "no frills" row house or - when it becomes too expensive for that - it can be upgraded into a more luxurious boutique-type of home, with hardwood floors, rich ceramic tiles on the kitchen floor, custom-made cabinets, and all kinds of quality fittings and finishes at a higher price level.

(In fact, prices have climbed so high in the United States that it is now claimed that middle-class families will no longer be able to afford to buy a home! Luxury homes are just about all that is now being built in states like California).

Since having a small Home Office and a large Great Room might not suit Ottawa families with growing kids, Minto has also designed The Royalton. It is of similar size, but since it's only sold as an end unit, it's designed with a side entrance. That effectively cuts the main floor into two, providing two average-size rooms instead of the Helmsley's large Great Room and smaller home office. One of the two rooms is perfect as a Family Room for those kids.

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