Show Me Cookie Cutters (largest, Atlanta, market, New Orleans)
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What? I am serious, those two cities are full of cookie cutter developments. I know because that is where I grew up. I grew up in one of the many cookie cutter subdevelopments that I got to watch spring up from an old pig farm.
You grew up in a small town outside of Pittsburgh. How is that tough for you to comprehend?
I'm not sure which two cities you are referring to. The pictures I posted are from the city where I live now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl
With how poorly many are constructed today, I am not sure that they'll make it fifty years to wax poetic.
You know, my parents were saying that in the 50s, about the new construction then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl
Many of the starter neighborhoods being built today really low grade construction that practically invites deterioration over time. Highly inexpensive materials and methods are being used across the country to maximize home size while minimizing costs. Upon the inspection for his sale, he found himself fixing a lot of things that should not have needed fixing after only 10 years. It doesn't bode well for his buyer. My brother bought one of these new homes in 2004 and thankfully sold it this past holiday season.
Who are you talking about (in addition to your brother)? Building codes have been tightened up considerably since homes could be built with dirt floors covered with cardboard.
I'm not sure which two cities you are referring to. The pictures I posted are from the city where I live now.
You know, my parents were saying that in the 50s, about the new construction then.
Who are you talking about (in addition to your brother)? Building codes have been tightened up considerably since homes could be built with dirt floors covered with cardboard.
They had to be. Some modern builders need a building code to build a safe house. In the old days, mandatory minimums weren't needed, because quality builders already knew what they should be, and usually exceeded them, anyway.
They had to be. Some modern builders need a building code to build a safe house. In the old days, mandatory minimums weren't needed, because quality builders already knew what they should be, and usually exceeded them, anyway.
Oh, baloney! I've been a visiting nurse. I've been in some real dives from "the good old days".
And this is just one of thousands of suburban cookie cutter neighborhoods in the city I lived in and the region itself because most of it was built between 1980-2000. Thus it is a region of cookie cutter suburban developments.
I am not saying it is right or wrong, just saying that it is cookie cutter because it is.
Oh, baloney! I've been a visiting nurse. I've been in some real dives from "the good old days".
Well, he prefaced it with "quality" builders. So, yeah, aside from technical advances it's true. The thing is most homes back then weren't built by quality builders. Even larger structures... take the tenements in NYC, which were much better built than most people's homes were at the time... they were awful.
One of my friends grew up in a 1880's house, really nice house. Very well built for the time. Unfortunately, it was built in the 1880s. It was built without indoor plumbing. It was built without electrical wires. It didn't have central AC when his parents bought it. They bought the thing for next to nothing. Nothing was up to code. The plumbing leaked and there was a pool of sewage in the basement. The back of the house had fire damage from an electrical fire. They spend about three times as much as the purchase price gut renovating it, rewiring and re-plumbing the entire house, redoing the basement, putting in central AC and insulating. It really is a nice house, which was why they spent a few hundred thousand fixing up all the things that weren't up to code rather than just living in a house that was a severe fire risk, smelled like an open sewer, and was falling off the foundation like the people that had lived there for the previous 50 years.
Oh, baloney! I've been a visiting nurse. I've been in some real dives from "the good old days".
As Malloric sort of illustrated, those places that were "dives" probably became that way due to neglect, inept contractors causing damage by adding updates later on, or something along those lines. However, I disagree that "most homes back then weren't built by quality builders" I've only seen one old house (by "old house," I mean built before 1940) that was substandard from the day it was new. So, while they certainly existed, they were rare. (at least in this part of the country)
Getting back on topic, I disagree with calling any series of structures that look alike "cookie-cutter." To me, "cookie-cutter" denotes mass-production, where the final products look alike only because they were made using the identical process.
In the case of the Park Crescent in London, for example:
the uniformity in design was a specific desire of the architect; not because someone wanted to build a group of houses fast.
Before someone accuses me of it, I'm not using this as an argument to say that old houses that look alike aren't cookie-cutter. I'm just saying that, IMO, the intent of the builder makes a difference, whether old or new.
Bwah! See, isn't it human nature to make our homes stand out from the others?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JR_C
To me, "cookie-cutter" denotes mass-production, where the final products look alike only because they were made using the identical process.
Well, then, you don't get any more cookie-cutter than the rowhouses in Philly or Baltimore. In the town I grew up in, row houses were built en masse to house workers from the nearby GE plant (heck, nearly the entire town was built all at once). A hundred years later, they may not look cookie-cutter ...
Bwah! See, isn't it human nature to make our homes stand out from the others?
Yup, some prefer to add a veranda or a couple dormers, others do it in a quirkier way.
Last edited by Rozenn; 02-04-2014 at 05:25 PM..
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