Ordinary Homes of the United States

  Time period: 20th century to present day Location: Suburbs In places that allow them, Accessory Dwelling Units are a way to have more than one home on a lot that is zoned only for one regular full-size home. ADUs are a second, smaller home (typically studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom) on the same property as a full size house. They're also called accessory apartments, secondary units, in-law suites, and granny flats. Hawaii calls them Ohana dwellings. In zoning and building codes, accessory uses are minor uses that are allowed as part of a larger project, even if the zoning or occupancy type does not normally allow it. An example of an accessory use is the manager's office of an apartment building, which is allowed in a residential zone even though it's an office use. ADU's are a similar regulatory reform to allow two homes on a single family lot, without changing it to duplex zoning. Examples of types of ADUs. Each type of ADU has advantages and disadvantages. Detach...

  Time period: 2020s and onwards Location: California California state law allows a single-family home to become three homes: 1. The main house, which can be whatever size allowed by zoning 2.  An attached or detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU). Can be any size, cities must allow at least 800 square feet (enough for a 2-bedroom, 3 if you squeeze it) 3. An attached Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit (JADU), of up to 500 square feet. Example of a house with a Junior ADU and a regular ADU on a 5,000 square foot, 50'x100' lot.  Total of 3,800 square feet of living space with 3 homes with a total of 7 bedrooms (4 in house, 2 in ADU, 1 in Junior ADU). While California state law as of 2022 also allows up to 4 homes ( double duplex ) using Senate Bill 9, the ADU+JADU route is currently more popular, for two reasons: First, fees and code requirements are lower for ADUs. Second, many cities have put up barriers to using SB9 - this is in the process of being corrected by cleanup ...

Examples shown are smaller buildings located in urban areas. Group living at suburban and rural colleges have larger yards and more parking. The largest sororities are found in the South, and have over 40,000 square feet of indoor space and are located on 1-acre lots. Time period: Mid/late 1800s to present Location: College towns Four types of student group living, separated by gender or economic system Key features - Located in clusters close to college campuses - Shared common spaces and bathrooms - In addition to residential uses, may also contain study halls and space for parties From the 1600s to the mid 1800s, college education in the United States was rare, limited to small institutions established by churches to train ministers. Liberal arts education was added in the 1800s. Enrollment was small - a couple dozen to a couple hundred students per college. In the mid 1800s, as the country grew and started to industrialize, there was a movement to expand higher education as farmin...

  Time period: 1950s-1960s Location: Los Angeles and other cities in the Western US 6+ homes and parking spaces, all on a standard house-sized lot, named after the fanciful decor tacked onto the front.  The dingbat was invented in post-WWII Los Angeles to meet the housing needs of a growing city as well as growing rates of car ownership. The standard 50' wide, 150' deep LA lot had been gridded out for detached houses, but many were zoned for low-rise apartments. Before the dingbat, the most popular types of medium-density housing were bungalow courts - a series of houses around a central walkway, as well as multistory courtyard apartments. In 1934, both types were banned by a new zoning law that required parking: one space per unit. Developers solved this math problem by turning the front yard into a driveway, leading to a carport that took up the front of the first floor. To maximize space, the second floor extends over the carport, propped up on stilts. This type of structur...

  Time Period: 1980s to present Location: Suburbs, exurbs, and rural areas nationwide Mass produced mansions for super-sized American dreams Key features - Over 3,000 square feet with 4 or more bedrooms - Designed to impress: double height entrances and other decorative features on front of house - 2+ car garage While houses have always been a way people show off wealth, and owning a house has been central to the American Dream since the beginning of this country, several factors came together in the 1980s to create the McMansion. Clothing, which had traditionally been a primary way of showing off wealth, was becoming less important, outside of a handful of places such as New York City. Casual fashion had gone mainstream, and a drop in clothing costs relative to income meant that even the middle class could afford fancy clothes if they wanted. Homes, though, were still expensive enough to remain a status symbol. Another factor was the 1986 Tax Reform Act, a Reagan-era tax cut for t...