"This section of Decatur, the southwest, contains some of the oldest subdivisions in the city. The Oakhurst Subdivision lie in the area bounded roughly by Third Avenue on the north, and by the city limits on the south. The eastern boundary is Fatetteville Road, and the western boundary is the city limits.
The predominant architectural style is the bungalow with a little or great amount of Craftsman detailing. Excellent examples of all levels of variation exist in the area. In addition, the Oakhurst subdivisions also have good examples of Queen Annes, Pyramidal Cottages, two-story craftsmans, Gabled Ells, Georgian Revival Bungalows, Temple Forms, Minimal Traditionals, American Foursquare, and a few English Vernacular Revivals. Oakhurst is a dense repository of all of the historic house forms found in Decatur."
Friday, October 5, 2007
Quotes from the Architectural Survey of 1990
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6 comments:
There are so many bungalows we do not need to protect them all.
That is what they used to say about the buffalo.
LOL, that's funny. We do need to protect the character of our neighborhood. This is the thing that has made it a success.
No, the PEOPLE have made it a success, not the structures.
People come and go...the structures have remained a constant in the past and hopefully will endure in the future.
Said Anonymous:
"No, the PEOPLE have made it a success, not the structures."
This misses the point of physical character. Yes, it's the people who have made Oakhurst a success but the reason they've invested the time, effort and care is because it's a place *worth caring about*. That is, it possesses the physical details and mix of uses that characterize the most loved places.
Note a common fate of many mid-to-late century suburbs. When it begins to decline, the neighbors all come together. Not to save it, but to combine their property into one giant parcel that can be sold off to a developer. Why? Because, despite the human experiences and memories inherent in the place, it's composed of forms that fail to engender care from anyone other than those who originally settled there.
When it comes to cultivating a viable human habitat, some models are inherently better than others. However you feel about LHDs, to suggest that form doesn't matter is laughable.
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