Photographer Julia Baum spent four years photographing suburban tract comes in Sta Clara, CA. The houses were all built in the 1950s to look identical, but over the years, their owners have modified them in a very pleasing, very vernacular way to personalize them.
As I take a second look at these neighborhoods, I've found vast differences in what was once a uniform typology. Over the past 50 years these Houses have transformed from modest white cubes into a vibrant display of personality and present a rebellion against conformity. My work asserts that human individuality cannot be contained. Inevitably it shines through even the most average facade.Houses (via Kottke)
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Very interesting, the houses look nothing alike! Is that astroturf on the lawn with the statue?
Is that astroturf on the lawn with the statue?
Funnily enough, correctly identifying astroturf is one of the hardest parts of my job.
These make me very homesick for Southern California.
I hope that's Astroturf. You would have to drench your lawn with chemicals and waste lots of water on it to make it look like that.
This is why housing associations that tell homeowners what they can and can't do to their houses are bad things.
Also, and this is just a nitpick, but "Sta" should have a period after it. It's an abbreviation for "Santa."
I've never seen a house with an astroturf lawn. I would find the ostentatiousness of a lifesize Greek/Roman statue on a astroturf lawn quite fitting, and quite hilarious. I like the sculptured hedges too.
Hope for Suburbia yet.
The identical Cape Cods of Levittown, LI also differentiated. So much so that when the (50th?) anniversary of the development rolled around that historians had to hunt around for a "virgin" sample to show off.
I put this argument forward everytime I hear someone talking about how all the new houses in [new suburb x] look the same.
It's true, they all do look pretty much the same, however if you go to [old trendy inner suburb y] you'll notice that the main architecture is all very similar just a whole bunch of [old style general house shape], it's the fact that they've been renovated (or not) and painted (or not) and torn down and replaced over time that makes them look different.
Well Apoxia if you like ostentatious greek statues, you'll love this
Youngwood Court celebrates MJ
You should see what my next-door neighbor did to destroy property values on our street.
SKR, that is full-blown class all the way. But the best part is the crown-wearing building. All it needs is a bit of astroturf.
This is how I modified my 50-year-old Santa Clara tract home:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/twins_from_the_shining_projection.html
How about fake snow and a super hot Christmas Tree?
Christmas at Youngwood Court
My jaw just dropped...
That house is only a block away from my place!
It may be individualistic, but its down right hideous!
They also have a scale model of the Statue of Liberty and the statue you see here. The grass they have isn't even grass, but this crazy miniature golf turf that's very sunbleached. My mom laments that it brings the property values down, but its friggen hilarious :)
I'm pretty sure the faux chalet (pic 2) look was one of the "looks" that was offered originally. I've seen that home more than once while driving through Santa Clara/Cupertino.
they aren't cape cods. they are levit houses. i've lived in both kinds.
I find it very hard to believe that these house were once identical. God would never allow such a thing. These houses were created different, designed from the start to look the way they do now.
Your property "values" are my concern exactly how?
If enough people have eccentric-looking houses, and drive down property "values", your property tax goes down, too.
Considering the current housing market, trust fund hipsters might be the only ones with enough money to BUY your house. If it's in a interesting neighborhood, full of houses with individuality and personality, having a few trust fund hipsters buying in the neighborhood, might very well be what increases the resale value of a home.
Isn't that the street where Mr. Plumbean lives?
I second the part about most old neighborhoods starting out homogeneous. It brings to mind the neighborhood where I grew up: the 1920s saltboxes were interspersed with the occasional bungalow, but when my parents moved in (into the lone Queen Anne), EVERY SINGLE HOUSE was white. Five years later, my parents painted theirs blue.
Within the next few years, everybody else painted their house a color too. Much more interesting.
It's not the identical houses I mind so much, it's the fact that the neighborhood is usually contracturally obligated to paint them all the same narrow palette of dull neutrals. Can't wait for those contracts to expire.
Perhaps individual #10 was referring to burnt out car husks, broken sewage pipes, or a huge pile of stinking rubbish bags and animals bones. Certainly that wouldn't be considered interesting individuality and personality.
I thought #2 reminded me more of a Polynesian restaurant, like my old favorite the Kahiki. ( http://www.critiki.com/cgi-bin/location.cgi?loc_id=33 )
But, I guess it is a fake chalet after all. That makes me sad and yet I really want a Suffering Bastard served in a keepsake skull mug.
arghhh why on earth did she use Flash for displaying each image? there was nothing special going on... the website was a real pain with flashblock enabled... every click of the next link came up with a completely fresh flash object blocked of course...
most likely it was to stop people right clicking images to save them...
As awesome as this is, it's this kind of creativity that has likely inspired the art of the restrictive covenant on residences in new suburbs. My cousin paid an absolutely gargantuan amount for a cookie cutter house complete with massive yearly property taxes and a restrictive covenant that required her to practically beg to paint her garage door a dark brown rather than white. Her neighborhood will forever be a sea of drab redundancy. I'd love to buy one of these 50's houses. Older houses generally have larger yards, and less 'rules' governing what you can do to your own property.
Let me add in that I too doubt that these houses were exactly identical when first built. They probably had identical (or mirror-image) floor plans, but some of the variation on these could be accounted for by architectural features available within the original developer's options. Mostly I'm looking at the various chateau-esque bits of flair; those look like they were original.
I'm afraid I don't see the similarities - underlying or obvious - between each structure. Perhaps if she had first shown an unadorned version? Or backed up for a more total view?
That house is really nice. I don't think grass should look like carpet, though.
I wonder how many lives were ruined due to "uniform typology"? You know, the weary home goes home only to be facing a loaded gun by the scared actual home owner.
Here's something crazy for you: if this is the part of Santa Clara I think it is, these houses are still selling easily for $500K+ right now. Yes, these are half-a-million homes. Good school district.
That astroturf looks like it might glow in the dark. Awesome(ly gross)!
@hisdevineshadow
I really doubt that was much of a problem in the US as they are rapidly personalized. However, I had some conversations with people that lived in Soviet Block Housing while studying architecture in Prague that indicated a problem such as that in the uniform typology of those buildings.
Ha, I knew that looked familiar! That house is just a couple of blocks from where I live! It is actually in a relatively nice part of San Jose, and yes, that is indeed astroturf. And it's value is probably more like $700k, or thereabouts, compared to some other properties around here.
Yeah, half a million is nothing for a well-maintained California suburb in an economically desirable area.
This is the plot of a children's book.
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Orange-Splot-Manus-Pinkwater/dp/0590445103