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This trend for putting bigass garages in the front of houses is just one of many new house features (there should be a thread) in which builders try to cram every feature known to man onto unsuitable lots at affordable prices. Another example is a 1200 square foot, 5 bedroom house, or a dining room that is 8'x8'. This results in one eyesore after another, and pretty soon, people are not even capable of noticing the difference.
An alley entry or side entry looks so much better. Who ever started putting garages in the front of homes
obviously had no class or taste.
Are you talking about some modern designs where the garage is literally in front of the house, in other words closer to the curb than the main entry? If so, I agree with you.
But I've seen many homes with garages attached to the side or otherwise in full view of the street that look great.
I think we're all talking about houses in which all you see when you look at it is a big garage door. There are plenty of examples of tastefully integrated garages that open on the front, like karen's example in post#5. Let's just say that when her house was being built, they decided to place 3 houses on that lot instead of one. So they just moved the garages to the front of the house. Bad idea.
Meh, my little period house has the garage right up front- I mean about 3' from the sidewalk and protruding in front of the main body of the house- and is as charming and as handsome as they come, folks driving by are often stopping in the middle of the road and pointing. I've even stumbled onto a person's architectural blog and found a photo of my garage door among others as representative fine examples of such (that was a surprise).
It's not the location as much as the scale, proportions and detailing (My house is small and the garage tiny) and how the garage fits into the overall scheme of the architecture. I'll agree that there are too many by far examples of huge garages taking over the front of houses these days and just overwhelming the facade and overall design, but it has as much to do with zoning and customer desires these days as anything.
I design houses (mostly renovate/additions) and garages, along with fenestration are amongst the most challenging aspects of a design. You are often just constrained by the context of lot, program and budget and what your client is demanding and so it is our job to make the best of that situation. But a skilled designer can make an attractive garage that fits well within the overall design of the house and lot/landscaping.
Also my garage thrust so forward on my lot with no driveway to speak of allows my compact property to have a huge garden out back which I thoroughly prefer, an attribute that I'm sure others also appreciate.
I'm not a fan of alleys. Maybe I've lived in Philly too long, but to me they scream crime-risk/vandalism problem. Perfect place for neighborhood losers to do/sell their drugs, kids to act up/be loud, and criminals/vagrants to enter property/evade police. The best solution is the side garage IMHO. Much more attractive than in the front plus it removes the excuse of needing to set the house as far back from the street. I never understood our American tradition of the big front yard. No one, and I mean no one in any suburban neighborhood I've lived in has used it recreationally. Yes, it can be pretty, but it's a maintanence hassle. Put houses closer to the street and put the space in the back where people actually use it.
I never understood our American tradition of the big front yard. No one, and I mean no one in any suburban neighborhood I've lived in has used it recreationally. Yes, it can be pretty, but it's a maintanence hassle. Put houses closer to the street and put the space in the back where people actually use it.
I agree they are generally under-utilized compared to backyards, but what do you mean by recreationally? Like kids don't play there or people don't hang out with their neighbours there? Front yards were used for those purposes where I lived, especially by kids. I remember as a kid we always played in the snow piles the snow ploughs left next to the street. When I was around 6-12 years old I'd play tag, soccer, etc on front yards with neighbours all the time. In my childhood neighbourhood, there was a townhome where the neighbourhood mothers would sometimes chat and eat snacks in the front yard while watching over the kids, although this front yard was a strip of grass shared by two neighbours about 15ft wide and 30ft deep, so not very big.
An alley entry or side entry looks so much better. Who ever started putting garages in the front of homes
obviously had no class or taste.
You are absolutely right. The main reason most tract houses have front facing garages attached to the house is simply because that's the cheapest way to build them.
An alley entry or side entry looks so much better. Who ever started putting garages in the front of homes
obviously had no class or taste.
I agree completely! Houses that are built with attached garages that face the street are grotesque but ubiquitous in certain areas. They are seen frequently in Florida, Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, and in other Sum Belt states. They are seen elsewhere, but those areas seem to spawn them most.
When I gaze at the "face of the house" , known as the "front" by most; but for some reason, all houses seem to have faces of one type or another to me; Front facing attached garage houses look like angry voracious monsters that are ready to devour any thing in from of them. The windows, which are small by comparison, then look like eyes, squinted in rage. evan if you do not see the whole "mad face image" that I do, I am certain that I am not the only one who finds this sort of house to be disturbing and ugly at least the OP is in agreement, as are other up thread posters. However, some are not troubled by it. And yet others, see it as sort of a status symbol for reasons that your will see, were not the most thoughtful or high minded.
The first house that I ever lived in was a split level built in 1959.Like most splits, as they were known, it had a front facing one car garage. with an entry way that lead to the lower level playroom. It always reminded me of a Jack O' Lantern. When my parents had their second house built, they felt the same way as I do now, that a front facing garage was ugly, so they had the garage turned to the left, with a curved side facing drive way. If one absolutely needs an attached garage, this is the way to have one.
I don't think that anyone actually designed this feature. Not one architect at least. Attached garages were seldom seen in any home built before the mid 1950s.The first post war homes were generally Cape Cod style or ranch homes with detached one car garages set back from the street so that the house was important, and the garage was seen as a utilitarian feature, not a status symbol, so it was placed in an
unobtrusive place. As a tool shed would. The split levels were "second generation post war tract homes" and had the convenient, if not beautiful feature of an attached garage.
In the years directly following the war, many middle class families had only one car and it was driven by the man of the house who went to work. Some women, especially those from urban or suburban areas; did not at first drive cars.An attached garage was not needed.
Towards the end of the 1950's that began to change. Many middle class and above families had two cars. The expanding of the suburbs away from public transportation increased the need for woman to learn to drive, and families began to have two cars.It was easier for a woman , with 2, 3 or more young children in tow, to exit the house directly into the garage, thus avoiding inclement weather and a relatively long walk to the rear of the house.
It got out of control in the late 1960s and 70s through the 1980s, when builders began to feature three car garages that actually jettisoned in front of the house dwarfing the house in size and significance.
Some people liked this, and it seems there reasons were convenience, if not laziness, the need for more than two vehicles per adult and the need to look prosperous. No one actually needs more than one vehicle for their own personal use. Think of of it. A third and fourth car is not a necessity in almost any family. It is more a function of conspicuous consumption, a phenomena driven by greed and ostentation, not need.
Arguably, the attached 2, 3 or more car garage that faces the front also serves to make the entire structure of the home look larger and more imposing. While it does not contribute to living space, as the actual reason for a house is to give shelter to people, not to cars, it does at least make the house look larger while announcing to the rest of the world that the home owner has the cash to have two three or more cars and that all of them are nice enough to deserve to be sheltered from the elements.
It is not pretty though. I am not sure that I have ever heard anyone say that it was. It is functional though, and gives the homeowner an excuse to have at least three or more gas guzzlers. A luxury car, his car , her car, a car to pull the boat, and perhaps junior's car.
When conveniences and conspicuous consumption are secondary to aesthetics, one can not ever think that the results will be anything short of hideous.
I'm not a fan of alleys. Maybe I've lived in Philly too long, but to me they scream crime-risk/vandalism problem. Perfect place for neighborhood losers to do/sell their drugs, kids to act up/be loud, and criminals/vagrants to enter property/evade police. The best solution is the side garage IMHO. Much more attractive than in the front plus it removes the excuse of needing to set the house as far back from the street. I never understood our American tradition of the big front yard. No one, and I mean no one in any suburban neighborhood I've lived in has used it recreationally. Yes, it can be pretty, but it's a maintanence hassle. Put houses closer to the street and put the space in the back where people actually use it.
People generally don't like alleys, detach or semi detached garages setback is a good compromise.
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