Reefmonkey Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 This is a house that happened to catch my eye as I was driving northbound on Wirt between I-10 and Westview: https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7883189,-95.4852996,3a,75y,3.27h,81.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sW4KsuF9-j_OA-jt2mDP6pA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 I've often thought that architectural choices in the Memorial Villages demonstrate the old adage that money doesn't buy taste. One pet peeve of mine is homes that choose a particular vernacular style that doesn't fit with its surroundings, both natural and manmade. Particularly, the proliferation of Mediterranean-style houses in the Villages. Obviously Mediterranean-style houses look most congruous in semiarid environments similar to the Mediterranean, like the Southwest, Southern California, even the Hill Country; they can work for a Miami-style look with a lot of lush tropical landscaping, but again natural surroundings as well as nearby buildings need to be taken into consideration. Trying to shoehorn a Mediterranean-style house in to the Villages, surrounded by mostly traditional American styles and a dense mixed pine-broadleaf temperate riparian forest is usually a fail IMO. As bad as I think Mediterranean houses look in that area, I never thought I'd see someone try to get away with an honest-to-goodness full-on adobe-style house, straight out of Santa Fe, complete with viga poles at roofline. Or should I say little stumps glued on at the roofline to look like viga pole ends, most of which have fallen or rotted off (not surprising given Houston's wet climate.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 On 9/24/2018 at 11:14 AM, Reefmonkey said: This is a house that happened to catch my eye as I was driving northbound on Wirt between I-10 and Westview: https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7883189,-95.4852996,3a,75y,3.27h,81.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sW4KsuF9-j_OA-jt2mDP6pA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 I've often thought that architectural choices in the Memorial Villages demonstrate the old adage that money doesn't buy taste. One pet peeve of mine is homes that choose a particular vernacular style that doesn't fit with its surroundings, both natural and manmade. Particularly, the proliferation of Mediterranean-style houses in the Villages. Obviously Mediterranean-style houses look most congruous in semiarid environments similar to the Mediterranean, like the Southwest, Southern California, even the Hill Country; they can work for a Miami-style look with a lot of lush tropical landscaping, but again natural surroundings as well as nearby buildings need to be taken into consideration. Trying to shoehorn a Mediterranean-style house in to the Villages, surrounded by mostly traditional American styles and a dense mixed pine-broadleaf temperate riparian forest is usually a fail IMO. As bad as I think Mediterranean houses look in that area, I never thought I'd see someone try to get away with an honest-to-goodness full-on adobe-style house, straight out of Santa Fe, complete with viga poles at roofline. Or should I say little stumps glued on at the roofline to look like viga pole ends, most of which have fallen or rotted off (not surprising given Houston's wet climate.) Thats not Mediterranean at all in any shape or form. Other than that I agree with this statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefmonkey Posted October 5, 2018 Author Share Posted October 5, 2018 On 10/3/2018 at 3:29 PM, Luminare said: Thats not Mediterranean at all in any shape or form. Other than that I agree with this statement. I didn't say it was Mediterranean, I was saying all the Mediterranean houses in the Memorial area are bad enough because that style doesn't really fit there, but this adobe house is even worse, because the adobe style is even MORE unsuitable for the area than the Mediterranean style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.