Does anyone else hate this building style? (Frisco: HOA, houses)

[TheOverdog]

People want larger homes today and Ranch style 1 story homes require larger lots.

I don't get this comment. That ranch house is at best 1/3 (or 1/4) of the lot. If you want a larger one story just move it closer to the street. The comments about stairs belie that someone is having to maintain all that lawn, and it's not someone with problems climbing stairs.

[Taub201]

https://www.dmagazine.com/home-garde...eston-hollow/#

Seems like builders have moved away from the mixed brick and stone to the Santa Barbara style homes.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

I don't get this comment. That ranch house is at best 1/3 (or 1/4) of the lot. If you want a larger one story just move it closer to the street. The comments about stairs belie that someone is having to maintain all that lawn, and it's not someone with problems climbing stairs.

Every city in The US has required set back distances.......where we are in Dallas it's 50ft. out front, I think my side yard set back is 30 feet on one side an 15 on the other.

An oldster can hire a lawn guy...hiring someone to carry him up and down the stairs is a tougher find.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by mirotek

What kind of modern style? Something like this? This is really common in Seattle. I don't think it looks great in DFW but it looks nice in a place like Seattle.

Yuck! Looks like a doctors office.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by EP45

No doubt. Huge demand for multi generational housing right now with dual masters (up/down) and/or age in place homes.

I've been looking at houses for about a year and don't see any like that. So I doubt there is "a huge demand" for them.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by mirotek

It seems like all new houses in the north suburbs have the same look to them. This style just screams Frisco. Steep roof, multiple colors or styles of brick or stone, a round arch over the front door, and what looks like a round column from a medieval castle. Lots so small that you can toss a bag of sugar through your neighbor's window. One tiny sprig of a tree in the front yard and none in the back. Do people actually like the way this looks? It looks so cheesy to me.




Why don't they build more of these classic ranch style homes? The look of these is timeless.

The first one is better looking than the second one.

BTW, builders will build whatever you want. The market drives house styles.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by apple44

Haha, compared to what? Some "modern" style houses are even more awful, in my opinion. Some modern houses are truly beautiful though.
I found the modern style more tricky, usually they are either too much window (no privacy) or not enough window (not enough natual light).

The first house the OP posted isn't traditional, though. There are well-designed traditional homes and well-designed modern homes (and a lot of other styles, too), but this is none of those. This is a false dichotomy.

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

IMO the worst factors of the top example are the rounded turret (which is fine but totally unnecessary) and the multiple stone patterns. If they would just stop that, or pass it off to more talented designers (like why stack your stone look on your brick look? Do stone to the ground) then it would be fine.

And the massing (what is the main mass here? It's impossible to identify), sporadic window sizing and shapes (I counted no less than eight window sizes and shapes), absurdly complex roof relative to the structure (look at the upper middle part of the roof.....how does that happen?), fake architectural features like brick timbering.....I could go on.

This is a poorly designed house, but people have gotten used to seeing so many poorly designed houses that this starts to "just look like a house."

Originally Posted by Rakin

People want larger homes today and Ranch style 1 story homes require larger lots.

But One story homes are in huge demand by Boomers and the elderly but the cost per sqft to build is too high and the lots are too small. Back in the 80's they were really hot but it took about a 1/3 acre lot. Now lots are 1/5 to 1/6th of an acre.

Whole lot cheaper to build a 2 story per sqft than build a 1 story with the same footage.

People seem to be missing that there are tons of two story options that aren't poorly-designed mcmansions.

Originally Posted by Roadking2003

The first one is better looking than the second one.

BTW, builders will build whatever you want. The market drives house styles.

I suppose if you stare at enough turds, they start to look pretty good.

[mirotek]

Originally Posted by Rakin

People want larger homes today and Ranch style 1 story homes require larger lots.

But One story homes are in huge demand by Boomers and the elderly but the cost per sqft to build is too high and the lots are too small. Back in the 80's they were really hot but it took about a 1/3 acre lot. Now lots are 1/5 to 1/6th of an acre.

Whole lot cheaper to build a 2 story per sqft than build a 1 story with the same footage.

It seems like the ranch style homes are in lower income neighborhoods, probably because the homes are older and sell for cheaper. A lot of boomers own these homes, probably because they bought them decades ago.

The 70yr old Vietnam Vet who works on motorcycles in his driveway in his spare time is the type who lives in the ranch style.

The 45yr old director at a Fortune 500 company whose wife has the blown out blonde hair and drives an Escalade is the person who ends up buying those ugly McMansions in Frisco. They live in Frisco because their job is probably in that area or nearby and just about the only type of home you can buy in Frisco is the McMansion style. The people at my job who live in Frisco almost all fall within this description.

[Leonard123]

That is typical of Grand Homes. It's grotesque, and when you have such a large volume of them so close together, the whole area looks cheap, not expensive. That old style with the low pitched roofs isn't any better in my opinion.

New houses are like shotgun houses. I'm sure some here are familiar with those. Lots haven't necessarily gotten too small but too narrow. You can't get a good floor plan with something like that. Besides that, they all look like cheap apartments.

I miss the styles of the late 80s and early 90s with the huge master bathrooms and vaulted ceilings that you could find in smaller one story houses. I'm not sure why that isn't done anymore. Even the bathrooms had vaulted ceilings. I love the big windows with lots of natural light but not at the expense of letting in noise or losing privacy. I wish we had stucco also, again for small houses, but we never had that.

If you look at the few detached houses in Addison, the architecture is perfect!

Of course the builders get higher margins on the large McMansions and two story houses/townhouses.

[FreeVilley]

Great discussion!