Many things have changed in the homes we live in over the last three hundred years, including size, availability of construction materials, shape, advances in architecture, location, governmental incentives, technology, family size, a move away from restrained architectural ideologies, and a general rise in living standards. These have, in turn, changed and shaped family and social relationships by providing different opportunities and more personal privacy and space.
The first North American homes were very small, one room, one-storey structures that were based on European building techniques brought by settlers and eventually adapted to the building materials, climatic conditions, and topography of the New World. The majority of these structures had less than 450 square feet of space, but were eventually remodelled and expanded over time. Through the middle years of the 18th century, older houses everywhere were added to and vigorously remodelled, with room heights rising a foot or more, and parlours added in the homes of ordinary well-off farmers and other gentry.
In the cities, small row houses went up in great numbers in the first half of the century, virtually all with parlours. The average urban row house was narrow, usually only 15-20 feet across, extending back for 30-40 feet. With the mounting pressure for effective land utilization, row houses became narrower and deeper over time; two 25 feet lots were divided into three.
Some large homes existed, as well, in the 1800s, some ranging between 2200 and 2800 square feet, which is about the size of a good-sized suburban home today.
During the 19th century, the different functions of the house were compartmentalized into separate areas. The public and private rooms were kept apart. As with most other rooms, the bedroom was largely an invention of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Until then all but the most privileged colonists lived in one or two rooms and beds stood throughout their homes.
Lot sizes began to grow after the turn of the century. Early 20th century bungalows were one-storey or storey and a half dwellings of between 600 and 800 square feet. In most new houses of the early twentieth century, square footage was drastically reduced to compensate for the increased expenses of plumbing, heating, and other technological improvements... Housing studies also related the reduced square footage to the decline in domestic production of goods. There was no longer a need for places to store away quilts, home-canned vegetables, and dowry linens for future use. People were no longer producers, but consumers.
Bungalows in the 1940s had lots measuring 60 by 100 feet.
Electricity and central heating were the domestic amenities that altered floor plans and furniture placement (Volz).. These improvements had important effects on domestic social relations, and in particular, access to personal space and privacy. Older heating and lighting technologies restricted the use of space in the home, drawing household members into each other's company in the process.
Physical size of homes continued to grow, while household size was shrinking. Rise of suburbia: abundance of land, cars, and government incentives made home-ownership very popular. Houses were getting bigger: the small house was on the decline throughout most of the century, while the number of people living in a household decreased by 50% in the years 1881-1991 (Ward). Room space + less people = more privacy.
We've gone from having no bedrooms to: In the recent past the middle-class bedroom has become an ever more private place. With its own attached bathroom, telephone, and TV set, the 'main suite' has assumed something of the character of a self-contained apartment. Walled up in their flat within a home, middle-class parents have built an unprecedented barrier between themselves and their offspring. It should come as little surprise, then, that their kids have responded in kind. Since the 60s the number of larger homes has grown while the average number of household residents has shrunk - quite dramatically in fact. One result has been that young children now commonly have a bedroom each, while most adolescents regard this condition as an entitlement, not a privilege. The rooms themselves offer a separate place for schoolwork, and often include radios, televisions, and phones among the many electronic gadgets once available only centrally within the house.
In North America, we all still live in rooms with walls that have doors and windows, we prepare our food in kitchens, we sleep in bedrooms, and wash in bathrooms...The novelty of our age is that our use of the space in our homes changes with a rapidity that can be confusing. And as we transform these spaces, they transform us. These transformations are the result of demographic, economic, lifestyle, environmental, and technological pressures.
Home offices, media rooms are new spaces, while old spaces like living rooms are now being used as computer rooms. Video entertainment, games, computers, and the Internet serve to isolate and also demand more personal space, separating us from the other people we live with.
Homes are divided into a multitude of private zones for individual use, and we partake in fewer shared activities. The average new house has expanded in size from about 1500 square feet in the mid-70s to over 2000 (Friedman and Krawitz).. People want more space -- family homes have grown by 1/3 in size over the last twenty years. Sizes of lots are decreasing, as sizes of homes are increasing. The median size for a new single family home in 2003 was about 2300 square feet (National Association of Home Builders).. Family size has decreased almost 25% over 30 years, while the size of new houses has increased about 50% (Heavens).. Average lot sizes are decreasing.
It comes as no surprise that houses have grown in size and cost over the years. At the beginning of the last century, the average home was 700 to 1,200 square feet. In 1950 the average home was 1,000 square feet growing to an average size of 2,000 square feet in 2000. Costs in 1900 were about $5,000, $11,000 in 1950 and $200,000 last year. An interesting fact revealed in the [National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)] report is that although homes have grown in size, lot sizes have begun to significantly decrease in size. In 1990, the average lot size was 14,680 square feet; the first year data was available for comparison. Just eight years later the average lot size was 12,870. In its profile of a typical new home in 2010, the report suggests the average lot size will shrink by another 1,000 square feet while the house size will increase to 2,200 or more square feet.
The new home profile also anticipates more mixed-use communities, neo-traditional designs, neighborhoods with smaller lots and narrower streets. New communities will offer more diverse architectural designs. 21st century neighborhoods will be more diverse while maintaining high quality design standards. They will encompass live/work houses, commercial centers and close proximity to amenities and services.
Larger homes on smaller lots will be one of many design challenges affecting new home construction in the years and decades to come. When height restrictions are not too strict, the solution is to go up and down. Homeowners could carve out more livable space, which may have been previously delegated for storage, in their basements and attics.
Buyers seem to share one thing in common. Most want more living space. The median size of the respondents' current homes was 1,770 square feet. How much space did they really want? The median response was 2,071 square feet. In 2000, the median size for new single family homes was about 2,070 square feet of floor space.
Now, how much land do you need for these bigger homes? Less than you might think. In 1976, the median lot size of new homes was 10,125 square feet. Last year, that median size had slipped to 8,750 square feet. Most people responding to the survey indicated they were for ¼ acre to ½ acre lots. That translates to 11,000 to 22,000 square feet.
There's the rub. While size is on the decline, the desire for bigger homes is rising. Homebuyers want one-story homes, but builders have been responding to the demand for more living space by building more two-story homes. More stories allow expansion of interior space without increasing a home's footprint - the amount of land it uses. This has become more important as land becomes less available and more costly in many metro areas.
To understand what will happen in the next 300 years to housing is a difficult task because we just don't know how technology, culture, and social relationships will evolve, thus changing how we use our homes, and how our homes change us. One thing is certain: land will be at a premium and expensive. The other certainty is that the population will continue to skyrocket and there just won't be the space for everyone to have large lot sizes for their homes. Another big unknown is energy sources and supplies.
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