What are these homes called and why aren’t they being built anymore?Submitted by rdervgyb2345 t3_10jnr6t in washingtondc
BrightThru2014 t1_j5lzp68 wrote
Reply to comment by GingerMan027 in What are these homes called and why aren’t they being built anymore? by rdervgyb2345
Huh, are you aware that developers still can and do build row houses (built in 2009 and 2001):
GingerMan027 t1_j5m0rwy wrote
When I worked a L'Enfant Plaza, years ago, I saw new nice townhouses built around um, 7th Street SW? Showed them to my wife one time, we dreamed what must it be like to have that much money.
Then again, our first house, a 50's era rowhouse just north of Baltimore, cost us $67,500. Loved that house, brick and block, slate roof. You could walk standing up in the attic.
Malnurtured_Snay t1_j5m5xhz wrote
Man, I browse Baltimore rowhomes on Redfin and I'm like "I could buy this for what I paid for a one-bedroom in DC." Tempting, yes.
GingerMan027 t1_j5mdwd6 wrote
You got to know where you are in Baltimore. Many variables. If you work remotely, I can tell you places that are great, prices, neighborhood, and safety.
If you have to go to work there, it gets complicated. I have spent a life between the two cities. I love them both.
You want advice, looking for a house, PM maybe I can give you a lead.
Malnurtured_Snay t1_j5mhdw7 wrote
Well, it'll be a few years until I'm in a position to move. I went to Towson U., and lived in the northern suburbs for a bit. Between 2004 - 2008 (when I moved back to DC) I spent a lot of time in Baltimore -- a friend owned a little bar in Remington, and I'm overly fond of that neighborhood and will miss Dizzy Issie's until the end of my days (I forget if that was considered Remington or Hampden) -- but I don't consider myself familiar with the city anymore. Most of the people I knew there have moved away (even if just to the suburbs). But I'd still love the recs because then I can be semi-realistic when browsing Redfin :)
Malnurtured_Snay t1_j5mkmss wrote
Now I'm thinking of my buddy who owned a giant ass house on Reservoir Hill. It's certainly the type that you might describe as a "brownstone" -- full basement, main living floor, and two floors of bedrooms above it. He was renovating it one room at a time.
cornmuffins1776 t1_j5mbmcx wrote
But you might get mugged walking into your house in Baltimore. Had so many friends move there around 2005 and had to leave due to crime.
Malnurtured_Snay t1_j5mbptb wrote
Yes, sadly. :(
Altruistic_Loss6834 t1_j5mkt5y wrote
Lol just like in DC (where I lived on and off between 2005 and last year) there are plenty of great neighborhoods in Bmore where the crime you are most likely to encounter is package theft. I bought a nice rowhouse in Butcher’s Hill last year for under $400k and the neighborhood feels safer than my last DC residence near 14th and U (and omg my local grocery/target situation is sooo much better, actually a lot of food is better). What I have learned since moving here is that 95% of the people who talk shit about Bmore know more about it from The Wire than actually visiting.
Malnurtured_Snay t1_j5mwok3 wrote
Hahahaha. I was living in Cockeysville when they filmed the "fuck" scene looking for the bullet at a neighboring apartment complex.
DfcukinLite t1_j5mvepp wrote
You get mugged in DC
cornmuffins1776 t1_j5ogvg0 wrote
Well, that’s true too.
DeliMcPickles t1_j5mldu3 wrote
It's what I did a year ago. It's great.
Altruistic_Loss6834 t1_j5n3qar wrote
Another U street ex pat, hi!
Malnurtured_Snay t1_j5mndw0 wrote
I just wish more of them had floor plans in the listing...
smacks23 t1_j5okg7g wrote
I feel like every dc resident has done this exact exercise and every time I’m like wait what am I doing it’s Baltimore. And then I go to r/Baltimore to see if I’m making the right decision and the whole front page is crime and businesses closing. We have that in dc for sure but no where near the level. And the path for Baltimore to revitalize is so much harder to happen than dc
Malnurtured_Snay t1_j5opbqu wrote
I went to college in the Baltimore area, and I spent a lot of time in the city when I was younger. And sure, there were areas you absolutely avoided, but that's sort of like DC today. So I don't know if the crime is actually that bad there, if it's actually that bad here, or if I'm just getting old.
Bigtsez t1_j5n0jcd wrote
They're nice in their own way, but they definitely don't have the same feel. I describe them as, "If Disney added a Washington, DC section to Epcot Center's World Showcase, it would look like this."
BrightThru2014 t1_j5n128r wrote
So you prefer we built what instead? The weird cheap blocky modernist condos which are identical in every city in the US? Give it 20 years of wear and tear and it’ll have the same “feel” as the older rowhouses.
Bigtsez t1_j5n38ne wrote
There are better examples recently built elsewhere (for example, here, built in 2018) that I think better reflect the old style in modernized form. I just don't like the specific look of Capitol Quarters. To each their own, of course.
Also, I didn't see the link to the Harrison Square ones, which I do like better.
BrightThru2014 t1_j5n6i77 wrote
Those are really nice (and fill me with happiness). I think we are on the same team here.
Gumburcules t1_j5osfyf wrote
> Give it 20 years of wear and tear and it’ll have the same “feel” as the older rowhouses.
After 20 years of wear and tear the new "rowhouses" will be twisted and falling down from the warped green pine framing and will probably need a hazmat reno when you find out the cheap drywall they used is actually made of shredded Chinese newspapers held together with strychnine.
Nothing will ever have the same feel as hardwood timbers, masonry construction, and lath and plaster.
basilect t1_j5sdtgq wrote
As opposed to what, lead paint and asbestos?
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