Wow - looks kinda South Beach/Art Deco. I like it!

^I agree. I like it. If done like that, it could look really cool, and urban. Garges in the front though, I wonder how much room is in the back, or if there is an alley.

I like the design. I always thought the whole 'step' appearance to neighboring homes looked cool. I don't see any garages in the front on those pictures. Am I missing something?

The garages are kind of hard to see, and I didn't notice them until the third time I looked at this thread. They are under the buildings, between the stairs and grass. Hard to see at first glance.

OK, I thought those were stairs. They should put garages in the alleys, not in the front.

The architecture is cool, they should have the garages off the alley though. It looks stupid when they do that... i.e on delmar... like somebody plopped down a section of Chesterfield in the middle of the city.

Garages on alleys are nice, but in this instance, the parcel to be developed does not have alley access.



Use the below link, and enter the address of 2000 Forest (aka 6848 Glades) and click the parcel map to see this alley-lacking parcel on the southeast corner of Glades and Forest Avenues.



http://stlcin.missouri.org/assessor/lookup.cfm

I was wondering about that. It looks like they will not stand out as much as the ones on Dogtown walk (I think that's the right one).

southslider wrote:Garages on alleys are nice, but in this instance, the parcel to be developed does not have alley access.



Use the below link, and enter the address of 2000 Forest (aka 6848 Glades) and click the parcel map to see this alley-lacking parcel on the southeast corner of Glades and Forest Avenues.



http://stlcin.missouri.org/assessor/lookup.cfm

I retract my previous statement

I was looking at listings on www.realtor.com and came across Glades Corner at Dogtown. Have they started building? Is it just one row mixed in with other houses? Or is it an entire development. They are really interesting. They are listed at $324,900 for 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 2,000 sq.ft.

eh, they got some big garage doors on them row homes. Doesn't make for an attractive streetlevel experience regardless of the buildings themselves (reminds me of some very sh*tty affordable housing projects in the Bronx, the rowhome with garages aspect, not the buildings themselves). When are developers going to learn about rear access parking?



edit: just to explain, it wouldn't have been too hard for the developer to have put a short alley behind the rowhomes coming off of Forest.

eh, they got some big garage doors on them row homes. Doesn't make for an attractive streetlevel experience regardless of the buildings themselves (reminds me of some very sh*tty affordable housing projects in the Bronx, the rowhome with garages aspect, not the buildings themselves). When are developers going to learn about rear access parking?



edit: just to explain, it wouldn't have been too hard for the developer to have put a short alley behind the rowhomes coming off of Forest.

This is really just an opinion. I've seen very attactive rowhomes with garage doors in front. If you're ever in San Francisco I'm sure you'll see a few. Also if you take Laclede St. just west of Vandeventer by SLU there is a row of nice looking places with garage doors in front. Whatever your opinion, it looks better than an empty lot.

I didn't mean to give the impression that garages can never be on a house facade (big garages are another question). i've seen some attractive garages on rowhomes and courtyard houses where the developers/rehabbers spent much money integrating the garage into the facade and made sure it matched the architectural ornamentation of the rowhome-



but



A) having a custom garage door made is a pain in the ass if you want it to look good, and not some ridiculous add on. I'd argue it's cheaper (as of right now) to just give rear access with a normal garage door.



b) they are almost always minimized to respect the facade. All the good one's i've seen are one car garages.



c) this is obviously not an example of a building that made any attempt at minimizing the garage door.



This development does a good job of minimizing the best qualities of both urban and suburban forms. It does a weird inversion of suburban proportions by having asphalt front lawns with green driveways. It offers urban density, but does a horrible job of connecting to the street experience (although it does offer front doors).



Anywho, i'm not saying these are absolute truths, and they are informed by my own prejudices about how homes should and shouldn't interact with the public realm. In small doses these developments can probably be digested by the casual observer, however, the more there are the more they will deteriorate our streetscapes. I think we should always aim for top quality design, especially when these design solutions aren't that much more expensive than the standard practice, and offer a greater reward for the owners and community at large in the long run. I very much doubt reconfiguring the garage door lay out would have made this developer stop the project.

SoulardD wrote:


This is really just an opinion. I've seen very attactive rowhomes with garage doors in front. If you're ever in San Francisco I'm sure you'll see a few. Also if you take Laclede St. just west of Vandeventer by SLU there is a row of nice looking places with garage doors in front. Whatever your opinion, it looks better than an empty lot.

When I saw the pics, it reminded me of San Francisco, maybe the way they cascade down the hill. You see a lot of garage front townhouses in San Francisco and it seems to work there. St. Louis is blessed with alleys and garage/driveway free streetscapes. That is part of the appeal of St. Louis to me. But front garages aren't always bad if done properly and used in moderation. Yet, they can ruin a streetscape and pedestrian experience. I can't say for this project because I haven't seen it and only have a vague notion of the surrounding area. You guys are lucky because you can check things out. These houses are different and I look forward to seeing how they turn out on my next trip to STL.

Here are some updated photos... it looks like the first one show in the photo above has almost been completed, and the second one is close to being finished as well. I guess then they finish these two, they will start on the middle two homes.

They generally look good. The use of siding works for the most part, and it is not plain white. The only thinkg I don't like is how there is no brick on the chimney. I don't get why I often see houses that are substantially brick with a vinyll chimny. It just doesn't make sense.

Funky. A little different than I thought they would look, but I like it.

Yeah, I like them. Good to see something different.

I like them too. Matt makes a good point, though...What the heck's up with the vinyl on the chimney? That just aint right!



By the way, there's a small development (3 single family homes) underway at Sublett and (almost) Southwest that has below grade, front entry garages.