4 ms·
How right you are! Unfortunately the developers in my city (Houston) have a lock on city council. We have zero zoning laws and very little power to preserve a
by technofiend 10y ago
How right you are! Unfortunately the developers in my city (Houston) have a lock on city council. We have zero zoning laws and very little power to preserve architecturally interesting areas.
In fact modern architects and builders here have a really negative attitude towards Craftsmen and similar styles: as far as they're concerned it's all old and boring. The result is predictable; neighborhoods are razed flat for profitable high density dwellings which frankly are one notch above Soviet Brutalist style, usually clad in the least durable and cheapest exterior possible.
Houston has incredibly low urban density and I'm not above improving that in places. But it should done with an eye towards a beautiful legacy. The only thing beautiful about block upon block of stucco and aluminum siding townhomes is the builder's bank balance.
- mrcsparker 10y agoIt seems like you want to live in another city. Part of what many people like about Houston is the lack of zoning. People tend to live close to where they work. The city doesn't really need a business area and a commercial area and a residential area. What neighborhoods are you talking about? I don't see anything near the Brutalist style anywhere in the city. A lot of the older parts of Houston have those three story townhomes, but they all look pretty nice. A lot of the homes that those places are replacing were pretty rough.
- technofiend 10y agoLOL. Well call me a raging moderate but I feel like there's room between "Don't like it? Leave!" and HOAs and Historic Preservation Districts that require a committee meeting to allow an exterior color change. But many of the modern townhomes (and this is where you and I differ) are quite ugly to me and a massive downgrade from what they replaced. A home in "rough" condition can be renovated, but what's to be done once someone builds an ugly townhome? But I'm not exactly alone in criticizing the recent architecture found in Houston townhomes and condos. Check out this graffiti http://i.imgur.com/AxxvkU1.jpg http://i.imgur.com/AxxvkU1.jpg and the discussion of it on the Houston sub-reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/4td1y7/found_this_gem_in_midtown_near_hcc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/4td1y7/found_this_...
- pjlegato 10y agoIronically, the bland suburbs that surround most cities are caused precisely by very strict zoning laws that mandate very low building density, large setbacks, large yards, high bathroom to bedroom ratios, low kitchen to bedroom ratios, etc. This is the major factor that makes rents so insane in prewar parts of cities, where the few remaining dense old neighborhoods in city cores are targets for gentrification. People want to live there -- and demand is rising as large numbers of millenials reject the suburbs -- but there cannot be any new supply built due to zoning laws. For example, almost all of the expensive dense old Boston inner suburb of Somerville would be illegal to build today under its present zoning laws: http://cityobservatory.org/the-illegal-city-of-somerville/ http://cityobservatory.org/the-illegal-city-of-somerville/
- technofiend 10y agoWe don't have that problem in Houston - it's easy to get a zero lot line waiver and jam 5 stucco box townhomes into a few thousand sqft lot. Unfortunately the building codes around here aren't much more stringent than the zoning laws and the build materials and quality are quite low. See the recent reddit discussion https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/4td1y7/found_this_gem_in_midtown_near_hcc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/4td1y7/found_this_... for a sample of anecdotes.
- pjlegato 10y agoCould some developer decide to leaglly build a prewar-style dense urban neighborhood in Houston? It sounds like an opportunity to make a killing.