Why row houses

To celebrate this history, each month we're presenting a new report from the archives. Download original report pdf. The row house has frequently been pictured as a type of housing that perfectly illustrates conditions of overcrowding, lack of light and air and open space, architectural monotony, and other environmental defects. A photograph of an old row house development was always useful in persuading a local community to modernize its zoning ordinance.

However, recent attractively designed row house projects in both newly constructed and renewal areas of Louisville, Detroit, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Chicago, and many smaller communities have brought favorable comment from both builders and the general public.

The now classic row developments of Chatham Village in Pittsburgh and Baldwin Hills in Los Angeles, built a number of years ago, are being examined with renewed appreciation. The row house also called "town house," "patio town house," "maison-ette," "court dwelling," and "group house" is enjoying increased popularity for several reasons, most important of which are lower construction costs and land space requirements per dwelling unit, and growing acceptance by the house-buying public.

The row dwelling is cheaper to build than detached units. Considerable savings are made possible through the use of fewer windows and party walls, plus utilization of precut subunits, which seem to be employed more frequently in row house construction than in other types of building activity. Needing smaller lots, savings in land cost can also be realized.

Good row house site design creates usable open space in contrast to the useless narrow sideyards and exposed front and back yards that are typical of single-family subdivisions, where community social mores often work to inhibit the erection of adequate fences that assure familial privacy.

The row house also fills an apparent vacuum in the housing market, being particularly attractive to married couples under 25 or over 55, who find that neither the typical apartment nor the usual suburban single-family detached house meets their housing requirements.

While most row house developments to date have been built in large cities or metropolitan areas, smaller communities may soon be faced with the decision to permit or reject this new and strange kind of housing unit. Questions such as, "Is this good housing or a potential slum?

This report introduces and describes some of the general characteristics of this type of housing. The row house firstly offers economy to the individual owner. Proponents argue that with existing land and building costs, the row house provides more space for less money than do other types of dwelling units.

Maintenance and operating expenses — heating and care of exterior surfaces row houses usually have brick facing — are lower. For those with little or no taste for outdoor landscaping and gardening, there is no need to spend long hours keeping up large private yards.

The row house offers amenity advantages over apartments and even some detached single-family dwellings. There is relatively greater privacy in living side by side in row houses than there is in living over and under other families in apartment buildings. Each row house unit has a small plot of privately-owned land that cannot be provided with apartment accommodations.

It is claimed that well-fenced row house privacy can be more complete than that associated with some single-family tracts. Moreover, row house advocates contend that ownership of an individual unit imparts a feeling of responsibility for maintenance lacking in the average rental occupancy. In addition, there is freedom to alter interior arrangements as with a free-standing house, i. Perhaps the most important attribute of row housing as far as the community as a whole is concerned is that it offers an alternative to the ubiquitous land-consuming single-family detached house.

More families can be accommodated on the same amount of land. Municipal services can be more economically provided in areas of row house development than in areas of free-standing single-family houses, because of the compact nature of the former. Efficient use of land will cause net actual usable open space to compare favorably with that offered by detached single-family developments.

Wasted sideyards and relatively useless setbacks can be combined to produce space better suited to both individual and community advantage. Finally, the community gains by the introduction of a dwelling unit that makes home ownership and its attendant stability possible for more people, while at the same time allowing greater architectural variety of housing type and size.

Most of the unfavorable comment regarding row housing arises from experience with the type of unit built in the past. Many of these objections have been overcome by modern design and architectural treatment; others are primarily a matter of individual taste as to the kind of living accommodation preferred. The typical older row house is admittedly too narrow to allow good interior planning.

Living space is consequently restricted and furnishing difficult. Without adequate fencing there is little privacy in the yard. Thin party walls transmit sounds from adjacent units. Lack of proper ventilating equipment causes the house to be hot in the summer. In the very oldest examples of big city row housing, dwellings were commonly deep and dark, a fault aggravated by the inadequate artificial lighting of the era.

Endless facades of brick and wood caused one dwelling and indeed one street to be indistinguishable from another, except in those instances where owners went in for fancy colors on doors and trim.

Exterior uniformity in a neighborhood of row houses is generally thought to be aesthetically more depressing than it is in a tract of detached single-family dwellings, although this is a fairly debatable point.

Open space relief in older row house neighborhoods frequently occurs only where they contain a large school site or public park.

Front yards, if any, are useless, and backyards in many older developments are too long and narrow to serve any purpose but automobile servicing and the storage of garbage cans. If no on-site parking has been provided, the street becomes an inefficient parking lot. In a few cities important elements of urban living — shopping facilities, social gathering places, and churches — are not conveniently located in or near row house neighborhoods.

As mentioned previously, restricted width is the greatest defect of older row house dwelling units. In the words of The Community Builders' Handbook : l. A twenty-foot width should be the minimum for today's "open planning. Lots measuring 20 feet by 90 to feet in depth will accommodate 22 to 25 two-story units per net acre.

This density and lot width accommodates two-story units having attributes of the present-day detached house, including integral garage, two bedrooms and bath, front setback and a rear garden. An additional half-story containing heating and air-conditioning unit, storage space and a studio room is entirely feasible where basements are omitted.

For units with second-story rooms side by side, lot widths of 22 to 25 feet are essential. Because of the difficulty of planning livable interiors for and foot-wide row houses, greater widths should be encouraged.

However, a competent designer can often solve the problems of interior arrangement implied by a narrow width that would baffle a merchant builder without good architectural advice. The intimate relationship of house, lot and street in a row house development means that a planning agency should take more than a normal interest in the interior design of such a dwelling. Very often sound judgment of the adequacy of exterior yard and neighborhood planning cannot be made without knowing something of interior layouts and orientation.

If living or family rooms are located in the front of the house, it is desirable to place the building far enough away from the street to provide protected and attractive open space.

This design, however, reduces the amount of available back yard space, which in practical terms is quieter and more private than a yard on the street side of the building. Another disadvantage of placing the living room to the front is that it impairs the opportunity of locating common space, such as a walkway, at the rear of the lot. Also, groceries and other delivered goods must be hauled through interior living areas to the kitchen at the rear.

Figure 1 shows some of the alternate arrangements that may be utilized in siting the house on the lot and in varying the relationship of living and other areas within and without the unit and on the lot.

A unit with the living room oriented toward a rear garden is the preferred solution. Factors to be considered in the arrangement of the various yard spaces have been clearly presented in the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority's Eastwick New House Study : 2.

Does the size of lot and position of car and house conform to ideal house-land arrangement? If not, are compensations adequate? Despite his previous support of the patronage system, Arthur, nevertheless, became an ardent supporter of civil service reform as president.

What city has the most row houses? Philadelphia is often cited as a city of rowhomes. And today, helpfully, the Washington Post today made a chart that shows just how many more rowhomes there are than in other major American cities. Yes, by far a majority of Philadelphians live in rowhomes — almost 60 percent of the city!

What are houses called in England? The main types of houses in England are: Detached a house not joined to another house Semi-detached two houses joined together Terrace several houses joined together Flats apartments. When were Philadelphia row houses built? The first recorded group of row houses was Budd's Row, a speculative development of ten buildings constructed around in present-day Old City, since demolished. Using medieval half-timber construction that was later banned, the houses were two stories high and two rooms deep.

What is a semi detached house in England? Semi-detached housing, where two homes are separated by one wall, remains ubiquitous in Britain's middle-class suburbs. Most popular in the 20th century, the emerging housing type known simply as a "semi" provided an escape from dirty cities and their crowded apartments, yet were dense enough to still be affordable. What is a villa house? Our method of interval training boosts your fat-burning progress by alternating rowing intensity between high and low.

The required push and pull is fairly unique to other machines, and the set up means one of the benefits is strength training. Rowing is gentle on the joints but still gets your heart rate up, breaks a sweat and builds muscle without breaking the body down. Increased Endurance.

Build endurance with short bursts on and off the rowing machine. Our classes will help build cardiovascular performance. Row House is more than just a workout, it's about people, connection, strength, and community. We don't intimidate or alienate. The list of her favourite includes travel, real estate, food and design. A cup of coffee, light music and her laptop and she is all set to blog! Your email address will not be published.

An Investment for Lifetime Keeping in mind a long term investment for your longing dream of home, a row house or 3 BHK or 4 BHK bungalows would be much more convenient and affordable option as compared to 3 or 4 BHK apartments.

Privacy is Maintained! Row Houses are the independent homes where you can enjoy privacy and comfort with your family. Safer and Securer? Yes, They Are! Become Designer of Your Own Home! Green can Keep You in Pink of Health!

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