The Ugliness Around Us

By Charlie Houston

A friend bemoaned the general ugliness of new County buildings. What set him off was a rendering of the zillion-dollar Western Loudoun Recreation Center. (Leesburg’s government buildings visually reference colonial architecture, though they are modern. Therefore, they look and fit better than Loudoun’s.)

His comment made me think comprehensively about local architecture. Not just public (i.e., government) architecture but private projects both commercial and residential.  

Beauty First

Great architecture endures: the Parthenon, the Taj Mahal, Mount Vernon, Monticello, along with Dulles Airport.  

Here’s a wild one: the Harbin Opera House. Inside and out, it’s astounding and outstanding. You’ve gotta Google it. Its world-renowned architect was Beijing’s Frank Ma. 

Skyscrapers

I love skyscrapers. The best are works of art. Think of New York’s Chrysler Building or its elegant Seagram Building. These towers were built many decades ago and still look great. Further afield, Google the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. Those were once the world’s tallest and the steepled roofs echo the stupas of Buddhist temples. Stupendous! They were designed by famed architect Caesar Pelli who also did the renovated Reagan National Airport.

These will be timeless. 

Not all skyscrapers can make that claim. There’s a massive, missed opportunity in New York – One World Trade Center. It’s site, budget and historical reference to 9/11 should have produced something exemplary. Instead, we see a flat-topped structure topped by a very slender spike. It looks like a giant hypodermic needle. Ouch!

Trendiness

Architectural style fluctuates. Take the wide range of house types: Victorian, Prairie, Ranch, Colonial, Cottage, Victorian, Split-level and so on.  Colonial remains the most popular, though often in bastardized and cheapened forms.  

Trends also influence commercial and institutional buildings. For example, there’s Brutalism, birthed in the time of Naziism and characterized by looming, oppressive concrete walls, minimal decoration or fenestration. Some critics say the new Obama Center in Chicago looks that way.

A current trend in County projects is expressing slim metal columns, flat roofs and accents in brown. That may have been what irked my friend. The Trump-Kennedy Center sports similar flourishes, screaming “mid-Sixties!” Park in front of your split-level house, feel the shag carpet underfoot, make a quick stop in a pink-tiled bathroom…

A current and noxious trend is featuring the color dark brown. Gag me, and I’m not alone: Dark Brown has been considered the world’s ugliest color; so sayeth AI.

McMansions

They’re everywhere. McMansions often haphazardly mix traditional architectural elements … all on the same facade. Many have ridiculously complex roofs, with too many gables, hips, and dormers, making a chaotic appearance

To have marketing pizzazz while remaining affordable to many buyers, McMansions can look grand from a distance, but are often built with many builder-grade materials. You’ll see extensive use synthetic stucco, man-made siding, and faux stone veneer. While I blame builders, they are giving the market what it wants: Quantity over quality. That’s reflected in their prices, which are much less per square foot than architect-designed residences.

There’s a hysterical, snarky website at McMansionHell.com. It’s great fun.

Price Sells: Homebuilders at Work

Never underestimate the ability of big homebuilders to create sad subdivisions of inconsequential houses. Take a new project off Dry Mill Road in Leesburg. Cookie-cutter, banal houses. Narrow lots, little variation in design, minimal variations of color. Zero landscaping. No redeeming factors and clearly built to attract people looking for something cheap. 

It’s “White Oak Farm” but a farm no longer. There are no white oaks, no trees, no animals or crops of any kind, not even grass: The cheapo homebuilder bulldozed every single tree, blade of grass or foliage. Naming it “White Oak Farm” is an insult.

How Did We Get Here?

In older, established neighborhoods in Augusta and Atlanta, where I used to live, no two houses were alike. Houses were not butted up to each other. There were sidewalks. Houses sported windows on every exterior wall. Other than tile in bathrooms, all floors were hardwood. There was no plastic, no synthetic materials.

The came World War II and as it ended developer William Levitt saw an opportunity. Returning soldiers and sailors would be marrying, beginning families and looking for a home. Levitt responded, using mass-production techniques to build small houses on Long Island en masse, and repeating their design over and over. He successfully sold thousands of these houses, not because they were nice, but because they were cheap: $7,000 to $8,000. Not bashful, he called it Levittown.

Other homebuilders took notice that price sells, and that the market will follow trends. That led to ranch houses and “ramblers” in the 1950s and 60s, then to little faux colonials like White Oak Farm and upmarket to McMansions. 

What Can Be Done?

Loudoun has annual design awards, but they get little fanfare. Pity.

Local zoning should reduce density and demand wider setbacks side and rear. The County’s Facilities Standards Manual sets many requirements, so add some more: Windows on every elevation. Use of the front exterior’s material on all exterior walls. Color variation. Sidewalks and front porches. Look up Habersham, a community in South Carolina, to see how great a reasonably priced development could look.

Benefits

Imagine your house in an area of substantial, well-built colonial homes. Now imagine it surrounded by square miles of cookie-cutter, plain Jane houses built to be as cheaply priced as possible. Which environment is more likely to protect your home’s value? 

Charlie Houston was once denounced by a former neighbor as being a snob. He denies it and says the ideas in this article would enrich Loudoun.