Out with the Old...
A recent article in the New York Times about the demolition of Ray Bradbury's beautiful old house--where he lived for 50 years, in Los Angeles--set my collar on fire. Now, it seems, we are to become a nation of tract houses, because that is what is profitable, and that is all that developers build any more (unless, of course, you are a one percenter, and then they will gladly build you your own Taj Mahal or Louvre). They don't even build them well, anymore. I recently visited a tract house under construction by the largest tract developer in the country--the Toll Brothers--(they should really be called the 'Troll Brothers') just to see what a $1,100,000 starting price will get you in Seattle. What it got you was four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, with thin rafters less than 2" by 4" set six feet apart (so much for framing). What it didn't get you was anything in the interior made of actual wood. Fake plasterboard is the new oak, it seems. So now houses built...