Historic Neighborhoods...in the movies.

Think back to the last good movie you saw. Chances are the home occupied by the main character was set in a historic neighborhood. You know the type…picture perfect homes with manicured lawns set a few steps up from a sun dappled sidewalk hugging a narrow tree lined street. Ah, the quintessential American neighborhood.

a welcoming front porch...

Movie makers aren’t drawn to these homes for their overly complex roof lines, random window arrangements, gratuitous two-story foyers, three car front load garages or even their granite countertops and stainless steel appliances (sorry McMansion fans). They are drawn to film in and around these homes because of their simple, classic and timeless details, universally loved by many Americans as well as countless advertising and magazine location scouts…not a McMansion in sight.

simple, classic, and timeless details...

Unfortunately, the only media attention paid to the many McMansion-lined streets lately has been as the poster child of the foreclosure crisis. It’s not hard to see, when compared to a thoughtfully designed historic or historically-inspired home, why these subdivision-style houses are difficult if not impossible to sell.

They don't draw 'em like they used to...

...or maybe they still do? Look closely at the drawings above (dated October 22, 1910)…when blueprints were blueprints. I acquired these images after scanning a set of tattered prints I'm working from for an addition to a historic home in Naperville, Illinois. The house was designed by the Aurora, Illinois firm of Worst and Shepardson.

Now look closely at drawings below, scanned out of one of my favorite books, American Houses, chronicling the work of Fairfax and Sammons, a top tier residential architecture firm based in New York City (too bad all residential prints aren't this detailed). The exterior drawing is taken from a 1997 house built in Washington, Connecticut and the detail sheet is taken from a 1995 house built in Greenwich, Connecticut.

 

In person, all three homes share magazine caliber looks but differ dramatically when it comes to what it took to get them built; the old house was built using simple line drawings while the new house required many pages of detailed drawings. Why the difference?

The old house drawings didn’t need to show every detail because workers on the jobsite knew them like the back of their hand. They were common details that, for the most part, just made practical sense. The new house drawings, on the other hand, had to show a largely untrained modern workforce the ins and outs of building traditional details.

The American jobsite is no longer teeming with skilled artisans looking for a place to leave their mark; most of them have come and gone with no one to fill their shoes. If given the proper guidance, by way of detailed drawings, I believe our modern workforce would welcome the opportunity to once again build homes worthy of preservation and future admiration.