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Perhaps this would be a better post for my city-data blog and I know over the past year there has been a lot of press (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/wake/raleigh/story/1022984.html - broken link) about the issue of tear-downs inside the beltline, but I am still curious what people think on this issue. What are your thoughts on the look of the addition to the house on the right pictured below? I'm thinking it looks a tad bit out of place, but that's just me.
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In Portland this sort of thing has been going on for a while. And my oppinion of it has evolved. (Sounds better than "flip flopped" ). I LOVE old homes especially in urban areas like ITB and am grateful I've been able to experience all their joys and pains.
But I also think bringing in unique or different architectural styles makes a neighborhood interesting. It's adds texture. And the people who live in them usually add texture to the neighborhood too. I think historic districts have their places in this country. But I don't think every neighborhood that is 50 years + should be an historic neighborhood. That would be too boring.
Tear downs can be good. In Portland we had some old homes that were really past saving. They were "torn down" (city code required at least one wall from the original structure be saved... it was there response to the sort of thing happening ITB... it just made the efforts more expensive... didn't really stop it though). And replaced usually with homes that looked like they had been built in the early 1900s when these neighborhoods were established.
Another reality is that alot of these old homes (like the small one in NRGs picture beside the big blue one) are too small for families today. Now I don't think every familiy needs 2500 sq feet, but 1200 sq feet is tough on a family of 4, especially when they have 1 boy and 1 girl who can't share a bedroom forever. Or when 1 parent works from home.
But on that little house you could take the roof off and go up and still make it feel like it belongs in a neighborhood in ITB.
Personally, I think the contemporary addition is totally out of place there. It might look good in LA (Malibu), overlooking PCH! Aren't there any zoning restrictions or can people erect whatever they want. I like the idea of keeping a historic neighborhood historic.
I don't have a problem with tear downs and additions in older neighborhoods when they meet the above criteria. But that photo NRG posted? ::shudder::
In my old neighborhood in Portland most of the homes were built from 1900 -1920, Craftmans & English Tudors primarily. But a few infill houses were put up in the 50s (ranches & split levels). In the 90s when I moved to this particular neighborhood these ranches blended right in w/ the other houses. I think the mature landscaping helped. But we had an elderly neighbor who had grown up in the neighborhood prior to the ranches being put in. She detested them and did not mind sharing her strong views about them .... even with the ranch owners.
She got old and had to move in with her daughter so they sold her house. Which is good, because the person who bought the home across the street from her old house, split the double lot and on the empty lot they put in a beautiful modern house (very similar to the one in the photo NRG posted). It's all steel and glass. That poor woman would have had a heart attack if she had to live across the street from that.
But I loved that house even though it was nothing like my 90 year old Craftsman.
Maybe one day "Big Blue" in NRGs photo will blend into the neighborhood more... especially when it has mature landscaping.... and maybe a different coat of paint. Not my color. But it's not my house.
I love modern architecture and don't mind good examples of it mixed into older neighborhoods...as others have said, it adds to the "texture". However, the problem I have with that addition is not how it fits into the neighborhood, but how it fits onto the house it is added to! There was NO attempt, it does not appear, to have the addition blend with the original. It just looks wierd! I am guessing the inside space is pretty great, though.
Personally, I think the contemporary addition is totally out of place there. It might look good in LA (Malibu), overlooking PCH! Aren't there any zoning restrictions or can people erect whatever they want. I like the idea of keeping a historic neighborhood historic.
Exactly. As I've said before, I also don't have a problem with modern, if it's in the right place. But those beautiful old ITB neighborhoods have some lovely houses. If they're small, I'm sure it's possible to add on without destroying the look of the house.
Can you imagine the brownstones of Boston in Back Bay abutting a house like that?
Love the concept of additions to older, smaller homes. Love the commitment to stay in a place where there's a sense of a neighborhood and to make an old house work for a new situation.
Feel like perhaps this misses the mark because it detracts from that unique sense of neighborhood, but maybe there wasn't room to expand "out back." Additions are usually either more of the same, a unique twist/update on what's existing, or depart radically from the existing. Here we have case #3.
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). I LOVE old homes especially in urban areas like ITB and am grateful I've been able to experience all their joys and pains.
