People who live on the corner of city blocks often complain about pedestrians taking short-cuts across their lawns. For some, it is the mere presence of strangers on their property; for others, it is the path in the grass they leave behind.
To get around this, some property owners place plantings at these corners, or a fence. Sometimes these fences extend diagonally from the corner of the house to the property line, like the chain-link fence at the southwest corner of 10th Avenue and Victoria Drive.
Last Saturday, while visiting a friend on William Street (just east of Nanaimo), I came upon a brick structure whose siting suggests its intention: to discourage short-cuts. But what a structure! A form that is open, almost welcoming, but closed to those outside it.
