The Ever Prominent Garage in residential architecture (home, construction, living)

[Cnynrat]

We don't like this design either, and in fact have a name for them: "Garage Houses." The design says "Hi, I'm a garage with a house attached out back."

I read an article many years ago that talked about one of the reasons why this design has become so popular. Apparently some marketing study indicated that people desired a private entry to their home. Pushing the garage forward allowed the front door to be pushed back, and often sort of tucked into the corner between the garage and the house, which provides some feeling of privacy at the front door.

I think in some cases a pushed forward garage, if it's not too extreme, can be compensated by having another strong point of architectural interest other than the garage to draw your attention away from the garage itself. A prominent front entry being one alternative here, but then that goes against the point above.

I also suspect that the trend towards smaller lots has contributed to this design being popular. Most people want to maximize their back yard space, so that takes precedence over placing the house on the lot in what is often a more aesthetically pleasing location further back from the street.

I grew up in two different homes in NJ, both of which had detached garages in the back of the house. Yes, it's not great when you need to unload a bunch of groceries in the rain, but when that happened we just parked the car close to the back door and quickly loaded them onto the back porch, which was covered. None of my three siblings or I ever melted from the exposure to the rain. Our house in CA also has a detached garage, but we can park by the door on the relatively rare occasions when we have weather.

Dave

[memph]

How come posters here are acting like the only solution is to push the garage back, rather than pull the rest of the house forward?

House pulled forward
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Bur...4a27764c2b554f


Vs garage dominated houses, note how the distance from garage door to sidewalk is a bit over 1 car length in both cases.
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Bur...4a27764c2b554f

As to why they don't pull the house forward... I'm guessing house layouts are part of the reason, especially on smaller narrow lots. In narrow lots, often there's only space for a 2 car garage and then at most 10 ft of of extra house width. That means the part of the house protruding beyond and beside the garage is too narrow for a proper room, just a foyer/closet/bathroom. Probably some people would rather use that space more efficiently for a kitchen or something. I don't find these garage dominated houses attractive either, I'm just trying to think of why other people might choose to buy one.

[Merc63]

I built my house addition as a 2 1/2 car garage with master bedroom suite above it. I used the foundation of the 1 car garage that had already been there as the template for where the garage went. That gave me a short driveway to the garage, and the side of the garage became one wall of the front porch, which I like.

One of these days I m going to extend the roof of the main house down the middle of the addition to split the garage doors off from the upper portion, then redo the lower section in cedar to match the lower (front porch area) of the main house...

[baileyvpotter]

I understand that the garages discussed save on land space but here are some examples of some
that compliment the home (visual unity).

20 Contemporary Attached Garage Design | Home Design Lover

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/23...185231cf6b.jpg

[luv4horses]

Memph, at first it seemed your post was just looking at the garage pushed back vs. house pushed forward as a semantic difference. But I do agree that with a 40 ft wide lot you would be able to push only the home entrance forward.

Baileyvpotter, you found some great designs that prove you CAN have a forward garage and still have an attractive building. But I suspect this would not work for traditional styled homes. Alas.

[buffalobirdie]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR POST. THIS DRIVES ME NUTS. A garage is a storage unit! Why the heck would anyone actually WANT a storage unit to be the prominent feature of the home or any home in the neighborhood!? Your point is completely valid, and all the reasons others have posted as to why the garage MUST be prominently set forward, are short-sighted and frankly, just plain stupid. I would suggest to you that the reason we are in this predicament is that the mostly-male (and straight!) developers of late are not known for exceptional talent in beauty of combining graceful design with form and function. Hey, men love their cars and the utility of it all, and have gotten into a rut thinking 'garage forward' design is the cat's pajamas. And what we see now all around us is the depressing outcome. There is NO reason why the garage couldn't be pushed back a bit, or that the house itself couldn't be pushed FORWARD a few feet and the garage remain exactly where it is on the lot. SMALL planning adjustment that would make ALL the difference. And to reiterate your point, you are only suggesting a 2-4 foot difference, not that a garage be completely detached. Receding the face of that giant ugly storage unit would aesthetically make homes actually delightful to look at again. And further more, aesthetics and beauty in design is NOT something only 'super rich people' can afford. That is a ridiculous assumption! It is lack of talent and vision and lazy design.

[buffalobirdie]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

We don't like this design either, and in fact have a name for them: "Garage Houses." The design says "Hi, I'm a garage with a house attached out back."

Dave

That's exactly right!! You nailed it.

[turf3]

Well, personally I like the detached garage in the rear and prefer it over all other configurations for a number of reasons:

- on a narrow lot it's easy to get a single-wide driveway past the house where you may not be able to put a double wide driveway and garage door without having a "snout house".

- The house becomes the main thing you see from the street rather than a big garage door

- you can expand the detached garage freely as you wish (workshop; add a second story, etc.) without any effect on the main house at all.

- Garages usually have all kinds of gasoline, solvents, propane cylinders, paint, etc. If a fire ever gets started I would rather lose two cars and a garage than two cars and my entire house.

- If you are doing things in the garage that make a lot of noise, dust, or offensive smells, the main house is unaffected.

All the houses I've lived in with detached garages either had a side door or a back door located close enough to the driveway that if it's pouring rain you just stop the car there and carry in whatever you're carrying in. You won't melt if you get a few drops of rain on you.

[grega94]

Or you could redisgn the neiborhood and how it’s used. You can turn the surface streets into essentially alleyways, and then in back of the house make room between the lots for a wide sidewalks plus public space, so in essence the front of the house is now the back and the back is the front.

[Nattering Heights]

Reverse is the weaker side of my driving skill. If I live in a house with a narrow driveway to a garage behind the house, I have the risk of wrecking the car and the house, especially at night. Putting the garage door on the back side with an alley adds the cost of an alley to the property tax and more roadwork with loud heavy machinery. The big ugly storage room is part of the price of car-dependent life in the suburbs.