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You may or may not agree with me but I find new and new-ish housing developments in my area to be really unattractive. The elevations are repetitive and uninspired. a bunch of front facing gables peaking at about 90 degree angles like bent pieces of cardboard to shelter windows and create rooflines. A child could have created the drawings. All up and down the east coast as far as I can tell. Everywhere from 2500 to 4000 square feet homes on 0.15 acre lots. Hardly any outdoor space. Yawn.
But surely there are developers who are more inspired. I look back to the tract homes of the 1950's through 1970's and there did exist smaller, "cute", or architecturally appealing homes in various revival styles that were situated on at least quarter acre lots, perfect for singles, young couples, small families or for (ahem) retirees.
The boomers are retiring and we don't need huge homes but we would like a little style and a little less repetitiveness from big national companies building a thousand homes at a time. And we'd like a little space to landscape or put in a nice patio.
BTW, it's nearly impossible to find individual building lots because of restrictions on septic/sewer, so new construction almost always means a development now.
Anyone have some ideas? New construction. Pennsylvania to Georgia ideally, but other areas might be considered too. Assume any price is good.
Google "historic infill apartments" and you'll see some examples of newer projects that are designed to fit with the neighborhoods they're slotted into.
You may or may not agree with me but I find new and new-ish housing developments in my area to be really unattractive. The elevations are repetitive and uninspired. a bunch of front facing gables peaking at about 90 degree angles like bent pieces of cardboard to shelter windows and create rooflines. A child could have created the drawings. All up and down the east coast as far as I can tell. Everywhere from 2500 to 4000 square feet homes on 0.15 acre lots. Hardly any outdoor space. Yawn.
But surely there are developers who are more inspired. I look back to the tract homes of the 1950's through 1970's and there did exist smaller, "cute", or architecturally appealing homes in various revival styles that were situated on at least quarter acre lots, perfect for singles, young couples, small families or for (ahem) retirees.
The boomers are retiring and we don't need huge homes but we would like a little style and a little less repetitiveness from big national companies building a thousand homes at a time. And we'd like a little space to landscape or put in a nice patio.
BTW, it's nearly impossible to find individual building lots because of restrictions on septic/sewer, so new construction almost always means a development now.
Anyone have some ideas? New construction. Pennsylvania to Georgia ideally, but other areas might be considered too. Assume any price is good.
That's rich. Boomers invented the McMansion. There are countless articles (and threads on C-D) about Gen X and Millennials not wanting said McMansions.
I agree with you. 99% of new housing (and especially tract housing) is boring an uninspired. The issue about lot size is simply economics. Unlikely to change.
I won't live in a brand new house again. This Gen X/Millennial couple is happy in our 1925 house.
To clarify I too love homes from the 1920s and have even owned 2 for a total of 30 yrs. But they are hardly ever available today in good areas for resale.
IMHO those from the 80s and 90s often suffer from materials faults that have not been addressed. Plumbing. Cladding. Chinese drywall. They can tend to be in developments which are spotty with regard to maintenance issues. Also for some reason 80s houses can be a bit dark inside.
Very funny about boomers inventing the mcmansion. One school of architecture? Who bought them? When they first appeared all you saw was young families. No doubt young advertising executives doing the advertising.
I've read reviews of critics in the 1930s who despised what they viewed as over-the-top, gaudy Victorian and Beaux Arts architecture. Every generation hates the previous generation's styles in almost everything, including architecture. But give it a few decades and the style returns as retro and popular. It's like a pendulum.
The ugly houses you speak of were built by speculators and they often find buyers. The designs are dictated by the market. Many aren't even done by professional architects, which is why they tend to look "off" (or ugly). Even back in the good old days, builders often designed houses by picking out architectural pieces from a design book or catalogue. People just copied the book or the neighbor's house. Nowadays if one house is ugly so to will be its neighbors. Ugly begets ugly.
Remember that housing for the masses (the lower and middle classes) have ALWAYS looked basic, and to some maybe "ugly." The only reason why people think older homes are better is because only the best of the older homes have survived.
You mean the 1950-1970 developments know as cracker boxes? 2bd 1 bth arrangements built in a square to fit on any lot? Or perhaps the endless lines of ranch style houses that are an rectangular box with 2 car garage?
Developers will build whatever provides the greatest return on investment, style be damned. I have noticed, at least in my region, that the demographic of neighborhoods does not change radically. The high end, large, custom homes of the 1880s are still occupied by well educated and affluent families. The smaller lower income working class neighborhoods are still occupied by working class families. Occasionally, working class places become hip, but their location reltive to teh city is what maters in these cases. Not all will gentrify.
I've read reviews of critics in the 1930s who despised what they viewed as over-the-top, gaudy Victorian and Beaux Arts architecture. Every generation hates the previous generation's styles in almost everything, including architecture. But give it a few decades and the style returns as retro and popular. It's like a pendulum.
The ugly houses you speak of were built by speculators and they often find buyers. The designs are dictated by the market. Many aren't even done by professional architects, which is why they tend to look "off" (or ugly). Even back in the good old days, builders often designed houses by picking out architectural pieces from a design book or catalogue. People just copied the book or the neighbor's house. Nowadays if one house is ugly so to will be its neighbors. Ugly begets ugly.
Remember that housing for the masses (the lower and middle classes) have ALWAYS looked basic, and to some maybe "ugly." The only reason why people think older homes are better is because only the best of the older homes have survived.
Facts.
Also...I can see the argument for Pre WWII homes having more character/craftsmanship...but 50s-70s? That was peak "every house is the same box with small windows" and the era that gave us the split level and the split foyer/raised ranch; generally some of the least popular floorplans/styles.
The neighborhood I grew up in was a suburban development from the 1960s (3 bedroom/2 bath ranch style) . The lots were less than an acre and they conformed the development to the terrain. Fences were those belly high metal and mesh ones that didn't isolate like today's fences.
The neighborhood I now live in is a suburban development from 7 years ago. The lots are small and they are not conformed to the terrain. To get a newer house in the fashion of the one I grew up in would cost $$$ for larger lots or live farther out.
I think they just cram more houses into a development nowadays then they used to.
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