Houses that haven't changed much since the 70's

Evergreen

http://www.raveis.com/raveis/N317515/16_fox_hill_dr_northbranford_ct/

See that link? That's a real estate listing for a nearly 35-year old house (built 1977) in Connecticut. Look through the photos. Notice how it appears that not a single thing about the interior has changed in those 35 years?

And this, too: http://picasaweb.google.com/rickmarinoshow/840Stirrup?feat=directlink#

It's near Nashville. Built 1974, and aside from the occasional newer TV and and a few newer kitchen appliances, it hasn't changed a bit either, and it has a really weird layout.

I just love it when this happens with houses, especially because the 70's were in many people's view such a hideous period design-wise. And by "love", I kind of mean "repulsed".

Chagen

.....I think it's a pretty house....

korohoro147

so do I!

CommandoDude

If it ain't broke...

don't fix it?

Evergreen

This has been interesting. Despite everything that gets tossed around in mainstream culture about 70's design being so hideous, I guess not everyone feels the same way. I can never quite be sure. Sometimes the colors and patterns and materials used offend my sensibilities massively. Sometimes they don't. Often I'm just amazed that all the old appliances still work properly and never had to be replaced. Though stuff did used to be built to last much longer...

captainbrass

The reason this happens is usually because someone's owned the house for a long time, hasn't changed the decor since they first moved in, and has now died or become too old for the house. I wouldn't object to the place at all, not least because for a small house it has what looks like an enormous garden by British standards. My flat is in a very modern style, and all that means is halogen bulbs that are fiddly to replace and white surfaces that take endless cleaning.

On a bit of a tangent, those classic, low white wood-framed American houses have actually influenced the films and books set in them in all kinds of ways. I've lost count of the thrillers where someone's body ends up in a crawl-space and I end up thinking - "Well, you'd have a much bigger problem getting rid of that if you were a British serial killer."

Evergreen

It's on 2.02 acres, set back behind its neighbors at the end of a long pine-lined driveway. I wouldn't use the term "garden" but I know that's mostly cultural difference. It's basically just a huge lawn. I imagine the owners just spent a bunch of time going around in circles on their lawn mower.

Now that I think about it, imagine how incredibly cool this must have seemed in 1977! I hope these people led a life less lonely than the current state of the house suggests, so that friends could experience how hip it was. It seems good for parties.

Regarding your tangent...I can totally see something sinister happening here. Especially once I found that it was so set back, completely hidden from the street and somewhat hidden from its neighbors.

Evergreen

Ok, I'm doubleposting and bringing this back, slightly derailed on purpose...

What's better than a house unchanged since the 70's? One unchanged since the 50's!

A builder's own home, which it seemed he lived in right up to today and, presumably, his death. Kind of sad, to see a whole life frozen there, but also really cool. (Maybe he didn't die. That was just a guess. Does "original owner" combined with "sold as-is" often imply something like that?) Also, I know it IRL, I drive by it pretty frequently when home.

captainbrass

Looks pretty well-maintained, which I suppose goes with the guy being a builder. Not sure about "Heating: Warm Air", though. Does that basically mean - "No central heating." Brrrr...

Evergreen

Yeah, the guy obviously took pride in the house. And unfortunately, you completely misunderstand the warm air heating. It's also commonly known here as forced hot air. It means central heating using warm air blown through ducts, and is generally quite effective indeed. The alternative is mainly water-based using baseboards, which is what all the houses I've lived in have had, and can take a while to work well IMO. I don't know what the most common form of heating is in England, so I guess I don't really know what point of view you're coming from.

captainbrass

Ah, I see. I've never known any house or flat over here where the central heating wasn't based on water heated in your boiler and circulated through radiators attached to the walls. The nearest I've known to hot air heating are small individual plug-in units that blow hot air to warm up a particular room as a kind of back-up. I once owned one myself, but it wasn't as effective as central heating normally is. 

glennmagusharvey

The main issue with forced-air heating is that it's even drier than radiator/baseboard heating.

Anyway, that first house...well, looks like it was mediocre to begin with and then it hasn't been updated.  I admit I laughed when looking through the pictures.  Then again, the main reason it looks bad is because you have oddly contrasting dark and off-light colors and it really gives the house a "dated" feel.  That, and some of the annoyingly "busy" graphics such as the carpet in picture 13.

Contrast that to the second house.  Its basic color schemes are much better, and while the stuff is old, it doesn't look as bad, and looks quite stately in fact.  Granted, I'm someone who kinda likes that oldies-green color (what's the name for it anyway?  I usually go by the TGS name "gnarly nursing home green"), but still, the color schemes were designed much better.  For example, that fireplace/bar room with the built-in couches is all off-white almost uniformly, while the bedroom with the raised floor coordinates yellow/green with off-white.

The third house actually seems to have been kept in very neat and good shape.  It's only main problem is that it seems to have...is that CARPET all throughout the place, even in the kitchen??  Apart from that, the wood is kinda the used-to-be-popular darker shade but isn't even all that dark.  The built-in ceiling lighting should actually help deal with the darker-shaded wood and non-brightly-colored walls.

As for that first house, by the way, is that an expensive area to live in?  That is a bit of an odd ranch: only 2 bedrooms and 1 full bath but nevertheless over 2000 square feet.  $269K seems a bit high for only 2/1 but more like it for a totally unupgraded 70s ranch with 2K square feet...

Evergreen

I shall address your points in order...

Yeah, dryness! I knew something bothered me about it. My maternal grandparents' 60's colonial in suburban Long Island is the only house I spent a lot of time in with forced air, and it always felt kind of odd in the winter. I don't get that feeling at home by comparison.

The coloration is pretty good in the "shagpad" (my name for house #2, comes sort of from the blog where I first saw it), and I think it helps that it was actually photographed with furniture still in it. And the color you're referring to is often known to urban explorers as "institutional green", because it's all over hospitals, psychiatric or otherwise.

As for the third house...yes, I think that's a carpeted kitchen, which to me is up there with carpeted bathrooms as pretty damn stupid. Also, I think that's a sword hanging on the foyer wall in picture 11.

Er. North Branford isn't too expensive, I don't think. Like, it's pretty balanced IIRC. It's a bit late so I won't check now, but you can always go search its listings on Raveis yourself...

I love that this topic is doing so well, and I am really pissed that that one particular awesome modernist house in Bloomfield actually sold or something. I was looking forward to analyzing that one with you guys...

glennmagusharvey

But yea, I guess that carpet looks like the very stiff kind anyway, not, say, the fuzzy kind.

And lol the sword on the wall.

I'll have to randomly browse realtor.com again sometime.