Looking Around: All Buildings Are Interesting

Springhouse (I assume) Mosquero, New Mexico (Sixgun Siding)

(McMansion Hell) Consider this statement: All buildings are interesting. There is not a single building that isn’t interesting in some way. 
To say that something is interesting is not a qualitative statement - it does not imply that all buildings are “good” or “bad,” or that all buildings are Important Architecture® - only that they are interesting.
When I tweeted this idea, several folks responded in the comments with buildings they thought were Not Interesting, yet somehow interesting enough to warrant a web search, image download, and a response to the tweet. Most of these buildings were part of our everyday mundane American landscape: a university building, a ranch house, an Applebee’s. However, as the discussion unfurled, it quickly became evident that even the most quotidian buildings are, in fact, interesting. Continued


Big Kmart, Tucumcari (Sixgun Siding)

Looking Around - On Sound (Part 2): Acoustics

Echo by Talbot Hughes, 1900

(McMansion Hell) What is acoustics?
Acoustics, broadly, is the science of sound. Some would argue that the term applies solely to the physical properties of sound, but there are many fields within the discipline that focus not on the sound itself, but how it can be perceived, shaped, and applied. Continued

Looking Around - On Sound (Part 1): Noise

 

(McMansion Hell) If you are able, take a moment - 30 seconds or so - and simply listen.
What do you hear?
If you, like me, are sitting in a quiet part of the house, you probably hear the wind rustling outside, the hum of electronic appliances, an airplane, or perhaps the faint rumble of distant cars.
If you are reading this in a coffeeshop or in an office, you probably hear footsteps; several simultaneous conversations; espresso machines or copiers; laughter; traffic. Continued

Looking Around: Reflections on Preservation

A candidate for preservation? The Mesa Hotel in Yeso, New Mexico (Sixgun Siding).

(McMansion Hell) ... Buildings are worth saving for several reasons. Sometimes, a building has an interesting cultural history - perhaps an important person was born there, or it was the site of a burgeoning subculture, or an important historical event. Sometimes a building is worth preserving because it is a particularly good example of its architectural style, or because it’s the only example of its particular style in the surrounding area.
Sometimes a building is worth preserving simply because it is beautiful, old, or built by a famous architect. Sometimes, like in the case of Johnson’s AT&T building, the building should be preserved because it had an important role to play in architectural history, theory, or criticism. Continued

Looking Around: American Foursquares

Photo: oldhouseonline.com

(McMansion Hell) No single-family home (besides, perhaps, the ranch or the McMansion) is as instantly recognizable as the American Foursquare.
Named both for its boxy exterior as well as its neat, cubic interior plan, American Foursquares were trademarks of early suburban domesticity beginning around the 1890s, remaining relatively popular until the 1920s when they were overtaken in popularity by the smaller, more economical Minimal Traditional style.
The Foursquare is notable for being one of the first affordable, middle-class home types to feature both electricity and a standard sink-toilet-bath bathroom, amenities previously afforded only to the elite. Continued

Looking Around: Horizontal Space

O.k., so little of the following applies out here, but it's still interesting.

(McMansion Hell) If there is one truth about the second half of the 20th Century it is that, by all accounts, we started moving out rather than up; horizontal rather than vertical. Not only through the process of suburbanization, the building of massive highways, and the rapid capital flight from cities, but also in how we designed everything from our homes to our workplaces.
It could be said that, since the development of major highways, America has flattened – much in the same way that the invention of both the elevator and air conditioning brought skyscrapers to every major city in the first half of the 20th century. Continued

Looking Around: Some Common House Terms

Photo courtesy of McMansion Hell

(McMansion Hell) Hello Friends! Today, we’re going to look at some common house terms, specifically related to roofs, dormers, porches, (and a couple diversions, of course). These terms will give you a foundation for how to talk about everyday houses, and give you an idea of how to classify houses by their basic shapes. Continued

Looking Around: Transitional Plans

Side-Gabled house in Muleshoe, Texas. 
One of the many vintage houses featured at the Muleshoe Heritage Center.

(McMansion Hell) Hello Friends! Today we’ll be talking about the detached houses that marked the period when the railroads were just beginning to expand, and resources started reaching more and more remote locations. Sure, railroads and streetcars were expanding, but modern mass-industrialization was still working out its kinks. Thus, transitionary. This period occurred for most localities between 1800 and 1860. Plans from this period would remain popular well into the 1910s, though the later four-square and bungalow plans would soon overtake them in popularity. Continued

Looking Around: Introduction to Floor Plans

Old House 29, Quay County, NM

(McMansion Hell) ... In the world of vernacular architecture, floor plans are perhaps one of the single greatest ways to differentiate and identify certain types of houses for a number of reasons: Continued