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Old 09-22-2012, 12:47 AM
 
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Houses/neighborhoods kinda like this


'Every Day' by Ten Second Epic feat. LIGHTS (OFFICIAL HQ VIDEO) - YouTube
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Old 09-22-2012, 12:48 AM
 
61 posts, read 110,873 times
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My mom's neighborhood looks exactly like this and it was built in 2007. Personally I prefer the mid to late 20th century 'ranch' style of housing, I feel like it seems more comfortable and what I'm used to even though I was born in 1990, because the majority of homes are still from this era.
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Old 09-22-2012, 05:25 AM
 
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Those home styles are also referred to as "cookie cutter", "zero lot line" and "McMansion" depending upon whom you talk to. They started appearing during the building boom of the early 90s but became prevalent up until now due to the favorable economics of building them. They're absolutely horrendous in my opinion, particularly since the developer has to level every tree in order to squeeze in as many homes as possible. I also prefer established neighborhoods of homes built from the 1930s to 1960s that have a tree canopy and lush, landscaped yards versus the barren landscapes of most development neighborhoods.
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Old 09-22-2012, 10:11 AM
 
Location: M I N N E S O T A
14,773 posts, read 21,504,427 times
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Cookie cutter? Who is the genius who came up with that term? Lol
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Old 09-22-2012, 10:14 AM
 
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
5,888 posts, read 13,010,710 times
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Blame Levittown, Long Island and Irvine, CA
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Old 09-22-2012, 10:20 AM
 
Location: Ohio, USA
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Virginia Beach became this in early 2000's.
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Old 09-22-2012, 10:30 AM
 
Location: Western North Carolina
8,044 posts, read 10,638,176 times
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In the Charlotte, NC suburbs, they are building homes like this, and then slapping on faux "stone" accents, as if living in a new, bulldozed suburb with no trees, little character, and two feet between you and your neighbors home is somewhat like living in a rustic "mountain chalet". So tacky.
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Old 09-22-2012, 12:28 PM
 
Location: a swanky suburb in my fancy pants
3,391 posts, read 8,781,978 times
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Early 20th century row houses in the big east coast cities could be called the 1st mass produced "cookie-cutter" houses. Levittown brought the idea to the suburbs in the 1950's. Plastic started replacing wood and stone in the 1970's.
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Old 09-22-2012, 12:41 PM
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Location: Western Massachusetts
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more importantly, do plastic houses have plastic people in them?
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Old 09-22-2012, 01:41 PM
 
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Row houses in the US date back to colonial times, with modern-looking ones to the 19th century. But the suburban tract house is a slightly different animal, with its origins in Levittown, as mentioned (though I wouldn't be surprised if there are some earlier examples).

I wouldn't call the ones in the video "McMansions"; they don't look large enough. IMO, the main thing which distinguishes the McMansion from the ordinary tract house is size. Random cast-plastic architectural details taken from a variety of clashing styles are optional, and I think got started in the 90s. There are large 1970's tract homes, but they're just oversized boxes.

The tree issue varies by area. Where I used to live (Trappe, PA), the tract housing is built on old farms and horse farms; there were few trees, and those were largely preserved (being at the edge of tracts). There are more trees now than there were when the building boom started.
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