Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Charlotte. The architecture, the willow oaks, the verdant streets.
That is a nice street. But it in no way tells me I am in Charlotte. Most established and older neighborhoods across the Eastern and Midwestern USA look just like this. It is not unique to Charlotte at all.
That is a nice street. But it in no way tells me I am in Charlotte. Most established and older neighborhoods across the Eastern and Midwestern USA look just like this. It is not unique to Charlotte at all.
Maybe that particular street wasn't the most unique example. Here's a more quintessential one:
I agree that a lot of those neighborhoods across the country share many similarities with ones in Charlotte, but it's not exactly the same. Those hundred-foot willow oaks were literally transported and planted onto what used to be a sprawling, treeless cotton farm before it was formally developed. Those streets wind and curve and loop back up because they were first engineered as streetcar suburbs. The architecture, while largely traditional and colonial as in much of the Northeast, etc., is a bit more emphatic on red brick and Virginian (in some parts) homages, and quintessentially Southern inclusions like two-story columns, among other things.
I don't expect someone who's not quite familiar with the area to instantly recognize all of these characteristics, and that's okay. But to others, I think they distinguish certain aspects and areas of Charlotte. Likewise for others and other places.
I suppose the typical Rochester street looks something like the below; characterized by larger American Foursquare and Craftsman homes along tree lined streets.
But I think what BamaDave is going for is everyday landscapes that are still recognizably of the place. If this Beacon Hill scene is the quintessential upper class Boston, streets like this-- narrow, closely spaced old houses, odd-angled intersections--are much more routine but almost as recognizably Boston as the Beacon Hill scene. Here's a pretty routine outer suburban roadside but this cut-corner directional sign is a vestige of when all the Mass highway signs had cut corners on the top edge. In the Connecticut valley out in Western Mass the soils are good and there wasn't the need to dig up rocks and pile them up along the edges of the fields and roads. Typical scene where farmers sold off house lots along country roads in the '50s and '60s for cheap one-story houses. Fields and woods all still there but the roadside is lined with small houses and a few big old ones from the early days, like the one behind a hedge on the right.
Almost half of all roads in Houston have ditches instead of stormwater sewers and curbs - that's 2,500 miles of ditches, per City of Houston website. There are streets within sight of downtown that have ditches. There are new condos and $1M+ homes being built on streets with ditches. It's Houston.
Almost half of all roads in Houston have ditches instead of stormwater sewers and curbs - that's 2,500 miles of ditches, per City of Houston website. There are streets within sight of downtown that have ditches. There are new condos and $1M+ homes being built on streets with ditches. It's Houston.
That is crazy to me! I cannot believe Houston has ditches???
That is something you see in rural America not a large urban city.
Cities have sewer systems underground. Very strange. I remember reading though that Houston has almost no land use planning rules or regulations so I guess that is the take away.
I agree that a lot of those neighborhoods across the country share many similarities with ones in Charlotte, but it's not exactly the same. Those hundred-foot willow oaks were literally transported and planted onto what used to be a sprawling, treeless cotton farm before it was formally developed. Those streets wind and curve and loop back up because they were first engineered as streetcar suburbs. The architecture, while largely traditional and colonial as in much of the Northeast, etc., is a bit more emphatic on red brick and Virginian (in some parts) homages, and quintessentially Southern inclusions like two-story columns, among other things.
I don't expect someone who's not quite familiar with the area to instantly recognize all of these characteristics, and that's okay. But to others, I think they distinguish certain aspects and areas of Charlotte. Likewise for others and other places.
I can see this as being a tad bit more southern. It surely looks nice. I guess when I think of Charlotte, I think of its skyline and not these types of neighborhoods.
Maybe they are unique in that part of North Carolina, but they resemble most areas in other parts of the country, even though I think they are quite nice and I like them from what you have shared.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
