Something’s going on in our neighborhood here that few people beyond those who grew up on the northern edge of Phoenix in the 1960s and 1970s will understand: Huge, expensive houses are popping up, every one utterly bereft of curves and roof peaks. They seemed odd when there was only one or two in our vicinity. Now that there are seven or eight—with several more under construction–what was odd became a trend, and ultimately an architectural style. I don’t know what architects call this new style. But boy, it’s popping up all over.
This past Wednesday Carol and I attended an open house at a newly completed home less than a block away. It was a broker open house, but we were invited because we live just down the street and around the corner. It’s right next to another similar house that was finished a few months ago, as the photo below shows. (The new house is the one on the left.)
We’ve watched it go up for most of a year. The landscaping has just been completed. They did something a little odd: Using a crane, they lowered a 20 foot palm tree down through a hole in the portico, its root ball going into a hole just to the left of the front door. Here’s a better view:
The house encloses 6,142 square feet, including six bedrooms and six and a half baths. There’s a fancy rectangular pool adjoining a sunken patio with a bar. Embedded in the pool are five plaster pillarettes just high enough to be bar stools. Oh—and the line of sunken bar stools is behind a linear waterfall coming down from the top of the patio roof. So you can sit on one of the stools, waist-deep in water, and sip a marguerita while the waterfall’s splashes keep your back cool when it’s 115 degrees out:
Adjoining the pool area the property includes what down here we call a casita: a separate small but complete living space including a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and living area with an electric fireplace:
I didn’t take photos of the interior because the place was a madhouse when we were there, but the right-angle convention was held throughout. Oh—and there was a 6’ tall server rack in its own closet, with a bundle of fifteen or twenty cables going into the wall. It probably already holds a NAS. If not, there’s certainly room for one.
So why this and why here? Our subdivision and a few others were platted and built in the midlate 1960s. (Old enough not to have an HOA, phew.) Our house was built in 1966, but it was very heavily remodeled in 2002. The key is the lot size. These subdivisions were intended as modest-sized homes for people who wanted to keep a horse or two in their backyards. A tack shed (storing saddles etc) was a popular option. We have one of those. The lots run from half an acre in size to a full acre. Ours is 5/8 of an acre. Only a couple of people hereabouts still have horses. So, absent horses, what can you do with half- to full-acre lots?
You build mansions, that’s what. The house Carol and I toured will be listed soon for $5,375,000. It takes up almost all of its half-acre corner lot.
The house was startling, inside and out. It has amenities, but lacks coziness. We’d pass on it even if we could afford it. In a few years the neighborhood will be an interesting mix of small-ish and huge-ish homes. I honestly wonder who all of our new neighbors will turn out to be.
