I live in a smallish condo in a late 40's building in what was once an exhibition area for modern living. They had created an at the time "unique neighborhood with state-of-the-art living". It was primarily the placing of buildings and usage of green areas that was new although the apartments are well planned, in all their simplicity, as well.

I live in a 1930's housing estate that originaly was to be used by people who just left prison, unfortunatly by the time it was finished the council sold it as private housing, so no crazy thieves, rapists and serial killers stayed in my flat. Top floor duplex flat with two flatmates as rent in London is rediculously high. The inner courtyards are nice and leafy. Located on the South bank of the Thames in a old industrial zone... NO TUBE!

i think we've done this before, but...

i live in a camelback shotgun built in the 1890's. bought it because the sisters who had lived here for 70 years hadn't changed anything (i.e., messed it up). we took a very low intervention approach to renovating it - primarily stripping wallpaper, patching plaster, refinishing floors - except in the kitchen and bath which we gutted and renovated.

lots of cool details still intact: the built-in icebox which backs up to the butler pantry, the cast iron 'thermostat' from the coal furnace, the hand-blown wine bottles we found between the floor joists, interior shutters, picture rail about 18" down from the 12' ceilings, operable transoms throughout, the secret wall compartment in the butler pantry where one of the sisters (diabetic) kept her candy stash (container still there)...

50 year old cape cod of about 1300 sf. its walls are built entirely of concrete block, and it site on a hillside wooded lot. it has all the space we need, and none of the BS bells and whistles of today's suburban housing.

we have renovated both bathrooms and i am in the process of finishing the basement. i plan on updating the kitchen and building a family room addition complete with woodshop in the basement.

rent an 1800 s.f. three story white brick rowhouse (the end south end unit of four identical units) on the border of the nice big house historic neighborhood and the big run down house ghetto, on the stateliest street in the city. built in 1942 by two jewish brothers. hardwood floors, tiny kitchen, nice yard, two car garage. the brothers lived in two units and rented out the others.

450sf studio in Pasadena w/ leaky ceiling.
Thank god the rainy season is over.

1100 sq ft 1925 craftsman home in seattle. very much intact. unfinished basement. asbestos siding that i am in the process of removing. the old siding is still beneath it and in pretty good shape. can hardly wait until that job is over. tough work.

Live in Duplex ( for sale )
New house (Design is on the boards going into its 4th yr.)
Office is a converted townhouse ( doesn't meet zoning bylaw but the Director of Planning and Mayor are friends )

i live in a van down by the river

loft space in montana with a cow, a giant cow

Single family dwelling, working-man's bungalow, built in 1925. 914 sq. ft. w/ a detached 2-car garage. Vinyl siding, god knows what's underneath. We'll never find out, as we're going to sell it when we move to Illinois in August.

vado - i figured as much.

j/k

To Cameron Sinclair,
I love that cow..... a far more lovely living image rather than architectural drawings....


I live in a 200 yrs old building complex along the river, shared with easy-going and friendly people... although after a day of work, the only one thing I want to do is sleep...sleep...sleep... and I made the bright white room very messy

1912 Craftsman, about 1500 sq.ft., a quasi finished basement and backyard facing west with a vegetable and flower garden.

Hey Steven, what the heck's a camelback shotgun? I know and am obsessed with regular old shotguns around that time period, but have never heard the term camelback.

i like the cow too cameron.

wow steven, your house sounds like a dream. the cast iron thermostat and interior shutters... my head is spinning.


love the cow. nothing spells 'home' like a cow.

pre-chicago fire 4 room farm house -- sits on a garbage dump. yum yum.

pre-chicago fire 4 room farm house -- sits on a garbage dump. yum yum.

double your please.

i live in a concrete box apartment building [1st floor]. on my side the building is three levels, on the backside it is five floors, where the ground drops out to this pond.

jones- a camelback is a type-variant on the standard shotgun in which there is a second floor at the back of the house but the front still looks like a single story.

in some cases this is just part of the same straight body of the house, but popped up two stories, like this:

in other cases, like ours, the back of the house forms a T with the rest of the house and the T is two stories. the doors still all line up (i.e., you can see out to the back yard when you look through the window in the front door), but the back part of the house is two-rooms wide.

vado, that's exactly my mental image of you.

its a nice van though and a nice river

well, jones, the image i posted is showing up erratically. you can see it at www.laheritage.org in the glossary section.

Thanks! Is your lot skinny too? Looks like a good solution for high density neighborhoods with narrow lots.....your place sounds like it has the character of time though....

oh yeah. in these older urban neighborhoods, especially in the south, the lots range from 15 to 35 feet. our street is mostly 25x180 ft lots with a brick alley access at the back (where trash pickup happens, phone and sewer come to the lots, garages/carriagehouses, etc.)

our house just slightly attaches to the house on one side - only because they enclosed a porch about 30 yrs ago - and we have a 18" space between the 'T' and the adjacent house on the other side. at the front 50'-60'of the house, however, we have a 9' wide side yard, large enough for a rose arbor that i built and a small brick terrace for outdoor dining.

yes, i love it.

I just bought my first house. It is a 1970's split-level home - currently on 2 acres of trees and streams. Havent moved in yet, but already planning alterations and additions. There is some hideous wallpaper, light-fittings and door handles, but some great potential - the quintessential doer-upper.

And its got something I've never had - an office, room for a painting studio and a small cellar....

btw, I say its currently on 2 acres because most of it is going to redeveloped on the future - we got it on a a really sweet deal.

where's your place, base?

South-East Auckland, NZ, Vado.
ps.
you can park beside my stream,
if you want a change of scene...

u cant get there from here

1977 Cedar contemporary money pit on an artificial lake w/ about 10 cars up on blocks in the front yard (OK, maybe just 5...in the back & in the garage). Oh yeah, I've got 5 huge letters from a dept store exterior that I'm gonna use to build a dock on.

just moved out of my last student ghetto... oh yeah.


that is til i go to grad school. anyone up for a brownstone reno?

1960 west indian bungalow, with major addition since hurricane in1989. Rented unfortunately, but building one soon not sure where. But I will once the lady and I move there.