In defense of cookie cutter homes (Phoenix, Tucson: estate, mcmansions, landscaping)

[Ponderosa]

Maybe to get around an alarm.

[Ponderosa]

The stucco and tile roof look became popular when California builders entered the market in the late 80s. Before that, many tract homes here had hardboard panel siding. Now that is stuff you can kick through with no effort. The more upscale ones were built of slump block.

[ScranBarre]

You folks want to see what TRUE residential architectural variety can look like? Check out my latest photo thread from the PA forum here:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/penns...l-section.html

From Tudors to Victorians to Cape Cods to McMansions, Scranton has it all within its city limits! I couldn't picture just how horrific it must be to look out your front window every morning and see row after row of the same earthy-toned, stucco-sided homes with dominating two-car garages in front of them! If that's the "future of architecture", then take me back to a time of splendid grandeur---A time in which people actually cared about beauty and individuality in their abodes! More than anything, I can't believe the homes in Arizona don't have FRONT PORCHES?! Here in Scranton, many conversations begin with joggers stopping to chit-chat with neighbors via their rockers on the front porch. Where do you all sit in Arizona---in your driveways?

I'm not trying to sound rude with this reply, but tract housing is ruining the splendid variety in architecture that America has come to be noted for! Just look at a few of those images from Scranton's "Hill" neighborhood that I recently snapped---You don't have a dominating two-car garage in sight, do you? Trees line the streets, and pedestrians stroll up and down the sidewalks; it's such a wonderful, creative place to be!

[aj661]

Momark, you should post a photo of you MO 'cottage' here. If all the houses here looked like yours, well, maybe sameness wouldn't be such a bad thing!

ScrantonWilkesBarre, that's what I'm talking about! The only things I see in the photos I don't care for is what I saw in upstate NY: too close together and missing something that seems to be a SW thing-fenced in back yards. We love the privacy of our back yard.

I really didn't pay close attention to the timing, but I guess Ponderosa is right about the Cali influence in the 80's. (I thought it was a soviet plot to keep us from finding our homes after a long day at work). My first home in in north Chandler was built in 1979. Pressed wood siding. The next home was built in 1986, also in Chandler, stucco siding but architecturally like the '79 model. Everything since is mediterranean/stucco.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by aj661

ScrantonWilkesBarre, that's what I'm talking about! The only things I see in the photos I don't care for is what I saw in upstate NY: too close together and missing something that seems to be a SW thing-fenced in back yards. We love the privacy of our back yard.

I suppose this is the trade-off for living in a "historic" neighborhood. In Arizona, just about everything is brand-spanking new, and many communities have been planned with today's quest for ultimate privacy in mind. Back around WWI, when Scranton was just starting to boom, people felt at ease being amongst their neighbors (I suppose good old-fashioned conversation was the most popular form of entertainment back then), so a large slat fence separating backyards would be unheard of! Now that people are constantly "rush-rush" and "on-the-go", we've all truly forgotten what a true neighborhood really is! I can't tell you how many times I've had people in my own housing development not knowing who I was when I waved to them on my runs, and I'm certain many of the "strangers" I wave to while passing by on our streets may very well live just a few doors away!

Way back when people cared more about each other than about themselves, people had archaic festivals called "Block Parties", in which each household in a given neighborhood would make a dish and the community would close off a block to thru-traffic for people to mix and mingle. Now, we try to close ourselves off from others as much as possible. The fact that Scranton's neighborhoods are so "open" to each other is actually attractive to me---I've grown up in a suburban tract housing area where people are too busy trying to keep to themselves to make new friends with new neighbors, and I don't like it one bit! I'm actually about to welcome a new couple to our development tomorrow; their vehicles had out-of-state license plates, and I'm admittedly quite curious to know what brought them to our quiet neck of the woods. There's a fine line between being inviting and being downright nosy, and I'm careful not to cross that line! LOL!

Overall, I just like being around people. I can't wait until I'm out of college and in my own Victorian home in the Hill Section, where I'll throw backyard barbecues, play some music, and open up my pool to the neighborhood children on sweltering summer days. Who knows? Maybe I'll meet a new date when I invite my peers over for a dinner party! LOL! I'm not saying these types of experiences don't occur in AZ; they're just less likely to occur frequently due to the general "stay out of my life, and I'll stay out of yours" environment of many suburban areas. (Including my own).

[brian_2]

I hear these houses called 'Track Shacks'. Rather derogatory description (to say the least), but so is 'Retirement Ghetto' which is somewhat apt considering the blue-glow of always-on flat screen TV's & those ungainly, ugly RV's, and numerous other vehicles cramming the driveway(s) parked next to the stucco boxes. Some say that these houses are relatively affordable, and it's unfair to criticize people doing their best to buy a new, stick-built home, but I say there are other choices rather than participate in the proliferation of cheaply built, ugly tract boxes that sprout from the Arizona landscape like tumbleweeds. I'm slamming the lack of taste and diversity out here in too many parts of Arizona. Hate me if you like, but I find the tract retirement boxes on par with the ugliest homes found anywhere in the US. People with a sense for style and substance would run from these boxes.
ps. love the post that describes fixing an exterior wall with tissue paper wadding and caulk. Priceless - as bizarre as workers spray painting gravel to blend into the planned, fake, desert landscaping that fronts the facades/entrances of many of these places.

[tucsondesertdweller]

My neighborhood is tract housing, its very nice, well kept, etc. Since we could not afford a custom built home we purchased what was affordable for us. If I had to move from my neighborhood, one of the things I would put at the top of the list for buyers, would be just that we have great neighbor's.
I know everybody who lives on my street and I know the majority who live in my subdivision.
Lots of the neighbors here have get togethers with others on the street. Also there have been block or neighborhood parties.
My neighbors actually help each other out.

About the landscaping, thats funny , we have desert landscaping, a few saguaro cactus and other desert or native to the Arizona plants, we love it.
My development does not allow grass out front, which we hate to see out here.
Most new housing developments tend to look alike, unless you are buying or building in really upscale communities.
Back east, you have the typical two story colonial.

[tucsondesertdweller]

forgot to add this. sorry.
I look out my window and see mountains, you probably look out your window and see houses.
Its just a different view literally.

[MotleyCrew]

I can agree with Brian regarding the "Vanilla Shell" housing where the roofs are all the same color as is the stucco. It was popular during the 80's to have all the houses similar. I don't think that Vistancia and Marley Park are at all boring for tract housing. The developments that allow many different builders to build in a community are creating some very interesting communities with plenty of ammenities. Not every person planning on retiring can afford a million dollar custom home and are left with few choices if they plan to stay close to family. If you are curious, please google Vistancia and Marley Park and check out the builders. Not at all boring.

[Desertlovers]

We moved to AZ years ago to get away from the "cookie-cutter" tract homes in Southern California. And now, we have them here in our area...up in the hills! (Supposedly "looking down their noses" at all the rest of us, who live down in the valley.)

It's so refreshing to drive around and see individual homes of all kinds, where everyone has a chance to express their unique personalities!! (Big homes, small homes, medium homes, mobile homes, homes of all shapes and sizes, plain and fancy!)

Guess we're all different....but I have never wanted to live in a tract home, especially the newer tract homes.

I would never, ever want to live in a development with a home owner's association. Why pay someone to "boss you around" and tell you what to do? Makes no sense to me! Thanks, BHC/Claire