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Of all the dense edge cities around that area, Silver Spring comes to mind as being the most built up, and also seeming to have the most contrasts. This interesting home here on 2nd Avenue in Silver Spring clearly looks like a relic of older times, likely pre-war construction like many of the other homes in the area. It looks like it was up for sale/lease at least as of when this was taken about a year ago, this is possibly multi family and may have or might be converted to commercial use as the homes directly across the street...or maybe even demolished to make room for some of the higher density stuff seen next to or around it. Kind of almost reminds me of the house from the movie Up..lol
I've seen plenty of small towns, both suburban and stand-alone, where there is an abrupt shift from commercial to residential character as one moves beyond the edge of downtown, but those involve two land uses that both would be expected in a typical town. I'm going to guess you're talking more about land uses that seem incongruous in close proximity.
One that comes to mind is found in the suburbs west of Boston, in the general area where I've lived for most of my life. It's not quite like seeing two really different kinds of land use right across the street from each other, but it does involve a quick shift in appearance between neighboring towns, and I have sometimes been struck by the change in the built environment around the boundary area between towns. Start with the town of Waltham, which is really close to being more like a small city, with a population of around 60k. Here's a picture that shows one edge of downtown Waltham: http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/picc9910.php.
Residential neighborhoods near downtown have the outer-urban residential character of single-family houses standing just feet apart from each other, with tiny yards or no yards at all. Away from downtown, most of Waltham is suburban residential in character, but classic early post-war suburbia, with lots of 1/4 acre or less. On the north side of town, there is an area of office parks and large hotels--suburban, but a good-sized commercial center.
Drive west out of central Waltham or the south side, across rt. 128, the highway that runs along the city's western edge, and on the other side you are immediately into Weston, a wealthy small town of quaint, sleepy town center, lots of an acre or more in many neighborhoods, forested conservation land, and quiet leafy suburbia. Head west from Waltham's north side, and as soon as you cross 128 you're into Lincoln, another wealthy suburb that's even leafier and has even more conservation land and often larger lots than you find in Weston.
Took a road trip last summer from my home near Boston to Philadelphia. The nav. system routed us through Philly's NJ suburbs onto a road through Camden. From a look at the map, I think we mus have taken U.S. rt. 30 through Camden. Anyway, it was the route that takes you from Camden into Philly via the Ben Franklin Bridge.
So as we get into the vicinity of Philly, we're cruising along through pretty much standard suburbia, including a mall and some strip malls here and there. As we're getting close to Philly, we pass through a really attractive residential neighborhood--tree-shaded, well kept houses kind of on the large side, trim green lawns. We pass through several blocks of this tidy upper-middle-class suburbia, then cross from one block into the next and BOOM, like that we're in the ghetto. I don't know whether that was the boundary between Camden and whatever town is immediately to the east, but it really was as abrupt a change as crossing from one block into the next.
By describing the area we entered from that trim tree-shaded area as ghetto, I mean that it was obviously fairly run down, with a number of buildings that were boarded up, but there was also just as sudden a shift from suburban residential into urban. That stretch of Camden was all buildings of several stories set right against the sidewalk, with no space between buildings except maybe a very narrow alley here and there.
That was one of the most abrupt shifts in built environment appearance I've ever observed, and quite an interesting side-by-side existence of suburban and very urban.
The Aurora Highlands section of Arlington, VA - single-family homes, adjacent to the very urban
Crystal City office buildings/ hotel section of Arlington.
Druid Hills section of Atlanta, GA - large old homes on spacious, shady lots, (laid-out by Frederick Law Olmstead), just 2 - 3 miles N.E. of downtown Atlanta.
| Downtown Chicago's Best Motel - a suburban-style motel, with free parking, in bustling downtown Chicago, just north of the river.
Milton, MA - a suburb with a private boys' academy, birthplace of George Bush Sr., but close to the ghetto of southern Boston.
Bridgeport - a family neighborhood of Chicago, traditionally Irish, home to the Mayor Daley family, but right in the shadow of downtown.
Riverdale is beautiful and if I wanted to be very close to the action in Manhattan and could afford one of those suburban homes, I would do it in a heartbeat. Especially this house on this block I would live here in a heartbeat.
Speaking of The Bronx, I remember another area with a strange infusion of low density SFHs surrounding one old style mixed-use urban building. A buddy of mine had lived in this building back around 7 years ago and when I went up to visit, it was almost surreal. Apparently in the dark days of the 1970s NYC, a whole bunch of these old apartments were torched all at once and eventually demolished, except for his building on the corner of Boston Rd and Louis Nine Blvd. When the neighborhood was redeveloped, it was done so with what at the time was considered the favorable development for the area, and now his building kind of sticks out like a sore thumb in the immediate vicinity, such as in this streetview from the next block over, his building in the background. In satellite view, you can see it even more, though a broader overview shows that the area is generally higher density. Whats even more interesting, and I'm sure a bunch of folks on here will be glad to know (lol) is that directly across Louis Nine from his old place, I remember back in '06 seeing a big construction project going on. Today's streetview shows what has now been completed as you can see his old building on the left, and the new mixed-use building on the right, nearly mimicking the old exactly except with more modern amenities of course.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nei
High rises and later apartment blocks in one direction, relatively large lot single-family detached homes in another. Something similar in NJ:
Interesting corner..like I had mentioned to another poster above, I've noticed a large amount of similar areas in many parts of north Jersey, such as this one in Fort Lee...such as in Hackensack, Paramus, Paterson, etc.
Last edited by KeepRightPassLeft; 05-26-2013 at 12:28 AM..
Detroit and the suburb of Grosse Pointe Park likely has the most drastic border contrast, for different reasons. You go from what resembles a 3rd or 4th world country to what resembles a typical 1st world community within a span of 4 blocks.
Detroit and the suburb of Grosse Pointe Park likely has the most drastic border contrast, for different reasons. You go from what resembles a 3rd or 4th world country to what resembles a typical 1st world community within a span of 4 blocks.
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