Houses on Steroids
This article was on the front page today of the Seattle Post Intelligencer. I love the poem at the head of the article:
“Farewell O Little Bungalow, A victim of pure greed.
In your place a Bellevue Mega-Home Will rise up like a weed.
A monument to arrogance, status and consumption, And to a timid City Hall without an ounce of gumption.”
The article talks about teadowns in Seattle and the behemoth suburban-style homes built in their places. Trissa and I are facing a similar predicament in our neighborhood where we have an existing vacant lot where the builder wants to build three “skinnies”. Won’t that be just fantastic?
4 Comments
Derek·October 24, 2005
We see a lot of houses in our neighbourhood replaced with stucco monsters. We see quite a few restorations as well, usually the nicer character houses are kept, and the houses from the 40’s are torn down. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
Greg·October 24, 2005
Great poem. It is cool that the newspaper is sticking it to them - both the demolishers and city hall.
James·October 24, 2005
It’s kind of the same down in Reno. A large swathe of stucco is being spread all over the town. I much prefer a little area called Old Southwest, where the homes still have an identity and porches.
Manda Liet·October 24, 2005
The neighborhood in Renton where I live is really struggling with development. There are many condos and appartment buildings going up, and a huge vacant lot just a block away is sleighted for a mixed use appartment building that is 4 stories high. At first I was happy that they tore down what was there (an abandoned house, a 60’s office building, and a huge bramble of black berry vines), but now I’m worried about what kind of impact that’s going to have on a neighborhood of 1 1/2 to 2 story cottages, bungalows, and farm houses. Then again, we are really close to Renton’s “urban” center, so it’s hard to complain about density. But it would be nice if they built something not so intrusive.