One day while working at my computer, I noticed that pictures of houseboats were going up in my “Yellowknife” stream on Twitter. I was curious about what was going on. Apparently a gentleman by the name of Stephan P. Sweeting was up in Yellowknife visiting his son Nick Sweeting. He had expressed the interest of touring around on the ice getting a closer look at the houseboats, so that is exactly what they did. At the same time they were uploading photos of each house. I, instantly, thought those would make for an interesting post, both for resident and those interested in Yellowknife.
I have always found the houseboats in Yellowknife Bay to be interesting and unique. They are a community like no other, because these houseboats are like no other. Some might think a houseboat should really be a moving, powered, boat looking type of vehicle and they maybe right, but those are nothing like Yellowknife houseboats.
The best way I can describe a Yellowknife houseboat is, a floating house. You could almost just pick these houses up and put them on land. That being said, they would still look unique. You see, each house looks different, each house was build different. The architecture and colour of them is what catches the eyes of passer byres. Beside the point of being unique looking, these houses are also self sustaining. You can’t get much more environmentally friendly than these houses, especially when you don’t have a choice. Solar for power, wood for heat and cooking as well as propane, compostable toilets, no driveways!
To those who live in these wonderful houses, what do you like about them? For those who don’t, could you ever?
Photo credit: Stephen P. Sweeting & Nick Sweeting
I've always wanted to housesit a houseboat! They've got that lovely charm of isolation and I think the homeowners are exempt from some city taxes as well.
Although a few years back my English teacher told me their anchor came lose and they floated a couple hundred feet away. That would be kinda frightening I imagine, especially to wake up next to shore one day.
I was just injoying the pics of the Houseboat, and reminded me that I saw on of the houseboats this past friday (May 20) that it looked like it was going below the water line. If I remember correctly the house boat colour is red. You can see this Houseboat from the shore of Rotary Park.
I was just injoying the pics of the Houseboat, and reminded me that I saw on of the houseboats this past friday (May 20) that it looked like it was going below the water line. If I remember correctly the house boat colour is red. You can see this Houseboat from the shore of Rotary Park.