I've noticed that for years, the similar build, but not necessarily craftsman. Although that look has been popular, I think it's fading...at least on the east side of the state.

Some of the new developments I've seen in eastern Washington have areas where builders seem to want to save money by using all the same materials. This includes siding, roofing, tree choices, etc. There are streets where the same tree or 2 to 3 shrubs are planted over and over and over again.

It kind of reminds me of some of the Air Force bases I grew up on...but with private builds I would hope for a little more variety.

This post was edited by lavender_lass on Sun, Jan 12, 14 at 17:16

During the design of our home, we took the "look alike" issue into consideration. These home are very attractive and sell in my community. Our rural subdivision does not have color or design guidelines. There are three houses different from the others - ours and two others. The remaining houses have the same or like siding, shingles and soaring roof lines and we won't even talk about the landscape design.

We have probably a dozen or so Craftsman developments in our neck of the woods all at varying price points. We are in King County in the suburbs east of Seattle. My sons always say they wish we had those builders because our house is taking so long to finish and those ones sprout up so fast.

Craftsman style home is typical here in West Michigan. Even when the details are not 100% accurate, there are many details inspired by the craftsman style, with the stone, columns, transoms, front doors, interior trims, etc. It's not new, perhaps it's a regional or micro-regional type thing. There are some neighborhoods that are European themed but those are more rare.

There's a lot of that going on here in SC, too. I love Craftsman houses, but these are poor copies. With all of the real Craftsman houses in this area, you'd think they could get it right. We are building Craftsman ourselves, and I spent a lot of time studying and photographing authentic period homes so I could get the details right.

motherof3sons -

You make a valid point. They are popular homes, and they are selling like hotcakes. There is something to be said for a neighborhood with visual "flow." And as lavender_lass pointed out, it probably keeps the cost down for the developers as well.

Maybe my viewpoint is just old bag-ish.., just call me Maxine. Every house in our neighborhood was custom built at one time or another. I am but a small frog on the pond, as I live next door to a McMansion, and across the street from an upscale Craftsman home and an older Colonial-type home in need of a total makeover. However, I can remember driving around planned communities like MIll Creek and Harbour Pointe when I was younger, choosing which "model" I would like to have.

That said, I don't remember the houses all looking so uniform. Everything I see now is a layer cake of board-and-batten, lap siding, and shingles on top - paint and repeat.

This topic comes up every so often, as I posted this before:

I think it also has to do with architectural guidelines and HOA's in some neighborhoods. Craftsman style is now very popular so many new neighbourhoods will follow that style.

In the new neighborhood we are building in all houses are "supposed" to be in a Brownstone style in exterior. There is only four siding colors allowed (yes, you "must" have siding on the sides and rear of the home and the colors you get is pre-determined with your lot). You can choose one of two trim colors, one of two shingle colors, and you get to pick your stone that covers the whole front of your house from about fifteen choices all very similar.

Only way to make it seem your own or different is picking the color of paint for the front door, but it must be at least a medium to dark shade of paint. All fences are the same black wrought iron material and style. All exteriors must be similar to ensure the look of the neighborhood......... Even goes to say what type of trees and plants you can use in your yard, all has to be approved first.

This seems to be getting more common in many of the new areas here in Alberta and all over many of these also are not in inexpensive housing areas.

Link to similar topic thread:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg1111432014881.html

Won't let me link it for some reason.

This post was edited by xc60 on Sun, Jan 12, 14 at 20:50

Can someone post a "faux" craftsman for me? We are looking to build what is called in the midwest - prairie. The interior will be what I think is properly called modern craftsman. I like the look because you don't get a lot of towering houses. I don't want to recreate a period house. I like some aspects of craftsman, square lines, transom windows to name two. We will have stained wood kitchen cabinets and doors, but plan on white trim work throughout.

humn......that sounds like a track builder. I see it here all the time. I despise track builders.

Unfortunately in many cases the city only sells their lots to the tract builders. You want a new home in the city you have no choice but to build with them. Sometimes at the end of development in a neighborhood the lots that are less than desirable are up for sale to the public, but usually once again get snapped up by the smaller tract builders. The odd time the developer or city will have a draw to the public for lots, but only for a handful of lots and your chances of getting a good one might be slim.

This post was edited by xc60 on Sun, Jan 12, 14 at 23:09

Humnbird, you must have been ducked down in the back seat last week as I drove through a neighborhood in my hometown. Large lots, variety of homes built 50s-70s, some remodeled, now many replaced with 2002 homes and now prairie and craftsman and shingled styles. They're all shades of grey. Some spec, some custom. But they all look somehow alike kind of like my own neighborhood of 1960s colonials. Something new will come around, just be patient.

Oh, don't get me wrong...I DO love the original Craftsman look, and the FLW prairie style homes were brilliant (even if their roofs did leak). I have seen some modern-day incarnations of these architectural "diamonds" that painstakingly capture the character of these lovely homes from a bygone era.

What I am referring to in my original post is the abundance of builders/developments that have dumbed this style down and marketed it to the public on a massive scale. As MushCreek put it, they are "poor copies" indeed, and they seem to be spreading like mushrooms in my lawn.

Well, as you said, something new will come around (maybe mushroom-shaped houses). Lavender_lass says the trend is already fading in Eastern Washington.

Historic residential architectural styles were not based on a "look" but a collection of specific cultural, experiential and architectural influences that were adapted and modified by architects and builders often but not always retaining much of the original intent.

American Colonialists brought the Post Medieval style from England but substituted local materials (lap siding and wood roofing shingles instead of stucco, half timber and thatch). As the colonies prospered they adapted and modified the more fashionable English styles that were based on Classical (Greek & Roman) designs from the Italian Renaissance. We know these styles generally as Colonial and specifically as Georgian, Adam, etc. They were later used as inspirations for the Colonial Revival styles.

In the case of the Craftsman Style, it was originally developed in southern California by the Greene Brothers. They were architects influenced by the English Arts & Crafts movement, oriental wooden structures and formal training in wood & metal working and designed intricately detailed handcrafted houses of natural materials that joined the interior with the exterior. These designs and much simpler variations were published in many American magazines like The Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping and The Craftsman and were quickly adopted by pre-cut material supply companies that sold mail order kits. This resulted in the rapid spread of a watered-down version of the Craftsman Style bungalow across the country. This is why it is difficult to find a Craftsman Style house that retains much of the inspiration or detailing of the Greene brothers.

A similar thing happened when a vernacular version was developed of the Prairie Style.

When a historical architectural style is reduced to a "look", it usually only retains the name for advertising purposes. When I see the term Craftsman it tells me virtually nothing except that the house is unlikely to have classical detailing but you can never be sure without a photo or drawing.

The most misleading thing of all, concerning houses of any historical period, may be how they are listed by real estate agents and the marketing department of large tract home building companies. Too often, these folks have no idea what they are talking about, but hope to excite the imagination of potential buyers in a competitive real estate market. In such cases, it's truly "buyer beware".

Thankfully, there are lots of Internet hosted real estate sites where one can not only see actual photos of the houses, but also use Bing or Goggle maps to see the neighborhoods.

I like this look myself, and it's heavily discussed on this board . . .

but if you were to offer me a million dollars to drive around my immediate area and find you a dozen real-life example, I couldn't do it. But I'm in the Deep South, which is pretty far from the area where this style originated.

This is the case all over the USA because resale is so important in our culture.

On this forum, whenever someone asks for a floor plan or elevation review, the conclusion is always something generic.

when we were transferred to the gulf coast (south of Houston) 30 plus years ago, I told my husband I wasn't
going to live in a subdivision where all the roofs and paint
matched and the same plan was being build every half dozen houses or so no matter what "pretties" the builders
managed to add or how many square feet it all added up to.
that sure did cut down on the houses we were able to view in our 5 day house hunting expedition
it all revolves around how much we can get for the money