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Neighborhoods that work well offer a variety of housing types. As our housing needs change over time, this variety provides us the opportunity to remain in the same community. Single-family houses of various sizes as well as garage apartments, duplexes, and multi-family dwellings should be located near each other so younger and older people, singles and families, people with disabilities, those of limited means and the wealthy may find places to live together. It’s also important to make sure these different types fit together by using design principles such as appropriate setbacks, scale, and similar architectural elements so they look like they belong together. Now let’s look at housing choices.

This house is located in Asheville NC in the Montford historic district. It’s an example of the Arts and Crafts, or Mission style, an early 20th century movement that emphasized simplicity, good craftsmanship and good design. Houses built in this style are typically less ornate than late 19th century Victorian homes. There are many examples of this architectural style in the neighborhood. You will notice this particular home has an interesting arrangement of windows on the second floor—a set of larger double windows and three smaller windows on the side.

This house and the one next door are also located in this neighborhood; they look like they are both single-family dwellings and fit in with the character of the early 20th century houses around them because of their setbacks, lot size, proportion and architectural details, but were just completed in the year 2000. Notice the windows on the second floor replicate the pattern of windows we saw in the previous slide. It’s also important to note although the building material looks like wood siding, it is actually fiber cement, a modern invention that has a long life, requires little maintenance, and can be painted. Both of these homes are actually three-unit dwellings…

… and three of the six units in both houses were constructed to be handicapped-accessible. They are also meeting a need for affordable housing. The non-profit group Neighborhood Housing Services built the homes as part of a low-income housing tax credit project, so the people living in the apartments must meet income eligibility requirements of 60 percent or less of area median income (adjusted for family size).

The Habitat for Humanity office in Asheville NC focuses their efforts on building a group of homes at the same time in a subdivision. Their costs are much lower using this method so they can build many more houses. However, they make sure the houses are not “cookie cutter” copies of one another, and fit in with homes in the area. Local architects design all of Habitat’s houses. Here is an example of two houses on the street…

…and here is another house, and all three look different from one another. The local Habitat director states that all the homes have large front porches to encourage families to visit with each other and develop a sense of community.

The developers of Vermillion, the new neighborhood we looked at in the design section, chose another way to include affordable housing in their project. Their stated goal is to be a community for people from all walks of life. They built the road, provided the water and sewer lines, and planted the street trees for these Habitat for Humanity homes, which are around the corner…

…from these houses in Vermillion.

This home is in Davidson NC, and from all evidence appears to be a single-family dwelling.

It’s actually a tri-plex built by the Davidson Housing Coalition, a non-profit agency established in 1996 to meet the need for more affordable housing in the community.

This 32 unit development built on 2.5 acres in the year 2000 received funding from the federal low-income housing tax credit program and a variety of public and private sources, including funds raised from private individuals and groups in the town. The Town of Davidson donated the land and installed the sidewalks. One of the units in the tri-plex is accessed from this street front, …

…while access to the other two units is from the back, where parking for all units is located. Notice that the “back” looks as appealing as the “front” which we saw in the previous slide. During the planning stages, the local architect responsible for the design sought comments from neighborhood residents so the units would blend in. The development was one of only six from across the country to receive an award from Fannie Mae, the federal government’s housing program, as well as an award from the NC Housing Finance Agency in 2001 for the best affordable rental development in a small city.

Here are some examples of the variety of dwellings found in one neighborhood in Raleigh NC. This duplex was built in the early 20th century…

…and is very cozy. Just a couple of blocks away…

…is this larger duplex. It too was built in the early 20th century and fits in with the neighborhood because of the scale, setbacks and architectural elements including the porch and roof.

Here is a home in the same neighborhood that has been retro-fitted to become a three-unit dwelling. It fits in because the only change in the outside appearance was to add mailboxes and change windows to doors.

A few blocks away in Raleigh is this new triplex, which has several of the design elements of houses in the surrounding blocks and so blends in with its neighbors.

It’s important to remember that “downtown” has the potential to be a neighborhood, and in the last few years more people have been drawn to the convenience of living close to where they work, shop, worship and have fun. In the City of Hendersonville NC there are approximately 15 apartments located on second stories of downtown buildings, and more are planned. Several buildings have been renovated to refurbish the second story for living units.

Morganton NC has also experienced an interest in converting the upper floors of buildings downtown into living quarters. Three buildings have been renovated for upstairs apartments in the last three years and two more are planned. In addition, 12 new townhomes and 23 units in a retirement center have been built right downtown, plus more than 70 condominiums are planned in the renovated Morganton Trading Mill project.

Asheville NC has experienced a surge of interest in downtown living in the past decade. Several buildings have been or are in the process of being re-converted into condominiums and apartments. This building, known as the Castanea, was built in 1921…

…and originally had offices above the ground floor retail stores. Some of the offices were turned into rooms for boarders and then later the upper floors were left vacant and deteriorating for 50 years; holes developed in the roof. The stores on the street level ground floor continued to function however.

In the late 1990s a group of five women purchased the building and, using historic preservation tax credits, renovated it keeping many of the original features such as the red gum wood paneled doors, tile floor in the hallways, and transoms with frosted glass with original lettering on the windows. A total of six condominium units on the upper two floors were created ranging in size from 1100 to 1300 square feet; some units have balconies and others have private roof terraces.

The Kress building, also in downtown Asheville, was built in 1928…

Photo credit: Ewart M. Ball Photographic Collection, ball n 1460, D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville, 28804

…and features detailed polychrome terra cotta tile in neo-classical motifs.

By the 1970s the upper floors were empty and deteriorating. The building was purchased in the mid-1990s and the new owner used historic preservation tax credits plus financing by a local bank to completely renovate it inside and out. There are now a total of 21 condominium units on the upper three floors ranging in size from 550 square-foot studio units to 1500 square-foot two bedroom two bath units; the first floor and at-grade street level on the back of the building are being used for retail.

The seven story Smith-Carrier building constructed in 1926 that used to be the location for JC Penney in downtown Asheville…

…became the home of another department store when Penney’s moved in the 1950s. It was left vacant for a number of years when the hub of retail activity shifted out of downtown to the mall in the 1970s.

In the 1990s the local firm of Public Interest Projects purchased the building. Their mission is to make urban areas more livable, and one of their primary aims is to provide affordable downtown housing by renovating and re-using existing buildings. Using historic preservation tax credits, the building was renovated and the top four stories have been converted into 18 condominium units.

Balconies were added for many units, which offer a lovely view of downtown and the mountains.

Patton Avenue in downtown Asheville is one of the city’s main streets. This is what it looked like several decades ago. Notice the building on the left with the four small decorative stone urns on top, and the building next to it further down the street. The building with the urns was built in 1924 by the Piedmont Electric Company as their office. In its later years the upper floors were used as studio space for several artists.

This is the same view today; you will notice that the building with the urns is still standing, and the neighboring building as well. These two buildings recently had their two upper floors converted into apartments and condominiums.

This is another view of the two buildings.

This is the view of both buildings from the back. In the late 1990s the owner decided to undertake an extensive renovation that involved constructing an elevator to serve both buildings and essentially joining the buildings on the second and third floors.

You can see that the rear looks much the same as when it was constructed.

An air shaft originally used for a ventilation system was converted into a skylight with glass block so all units have access to natural light. Renovation took two years and made use of both state and federal historic preservation tax credits; the project was completed in 2001.

When there are transportation options in a neighborhood, it’s possible to walk and ride a bicycle safely, driving is pleasant, and public transit could be feasible some day if it’s not available now. Sidewalks, crosswalks and greenways connect uses, buildings, and places together to accommodate a safer pedestrian circulation network; they also provide close-to-home opportunities for exercise, and enhance ways to get to know neighbors.

Dan Burden, noted pedestrian expert, has said that when walking works in a community, everything works. It’s easy to imagine wanting to take a walk down this street.

In the past 50 years it seems we have neglected the needs and interests of pedestrians when we have built roads. No one would choose to take a walk here.

To make walking safe, pleasant and convenient sidewalks should be five or more feet wide, and pedestrians need to be buffered from passing traffic when roads have lots of cars speeding by. Both tree lawns and on-street parking provide a buffer. Crosswalks are also important.

Merritt Park, shown on the left, is a mixed-use, mixed-income development adjacent to downtown Asheville NC . The building has 16 condominium units and one office. Nine of the 16 residential units are subsidized to provide housing for families making less than 80 percent of the area median income, increasing affordable housing options in downtown Asheville. Because of the building’s location close to downtown, it would be possible for a family living here to have only one car, freeing up more of the household’s income for making the mortgage payment.

Wide sidewalks have been installed to connect this building to the pedestrian network in the neighborhood. Due to its close proximity to downtown, developers of Merritt Park chose to limit the number of parking spaces to one per unit and include a covered bus shelter in the project design, promoting alternative modes of transportation including walking, bicycling and public transportation.

It’s possible to have a pleasant walk along a very busy road. This sidewalk with trees on each side was constructed along one of the main roads in Huntersville NC as part of the Birkdale Village development; we will be looking at more pictures from this project in the next section. As the trees mature, this will be a lovely shaded pedestrian walk.

The City of Mountain View CA received the 2001 “Outstanding Planning Award for Implementation” from the American Planning Association for two projects. In early 2000 The Crossings, a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) was completed that transformed an 18-acre former shopping mall site into a high-quality residential community.

The pedestrian-oriented neighborhood combines housing and transit in close proximity to offices and shopping areas. Designed by Peter Calthorpe, the site incorporates a mix of 360 housing units by the San Antonio Caltrain rail station. The mix includes small-lot single-family homes, townhomes, and condominiums.

The overall density is 21 units per acre; all buildings are oriented to the street…

…and compact townhouses and neighborhood stores face the station. The design encourages interaction among residents through the placement of sidewalks, pedestrian paths, common open spaces, and front porches.

Over the last five years, Mountain View has pioneered the use of urban planning tools such as “precise plans”—that allow the city to make zoning more specialized for specific areas in the city—and transit overlay zones, which require developers to adhere to strict pedestrian-friendly design guidelines. Precise plans replace traditional zoning with customized standards for a designated area. The plans establish broad goals and objectives with detailed development standards. Through flexible design approaches, such plans can encourage a variety of housing types, higher densities, narrow streets, public open space, reduced setbacks, and compatibility with the surrounding area.

The second project in Mountain View that received an award is called Whisman Station. Its precise plan initiated the redevelopment process for a 500-unit residential community on a 40-acre industrial site formerly operated by GTE. Extension of the light rail line through the property gave the city an opportunity to create a mixed-use neighborhood in an office and light industrial area with links to transit.

City planners worked closely with the developers to ensure the goals of the plan were met in a consistent manner.

The result is a walkable and diverse community of small-lot single-family and row houses integrated with public parks and the light rail station.

The highest density housing was required to be in close proximity to the transit station.

Here is the sign for the park and ride lot…

… and here is the parking lot.

With an average density requirement of 12 to 14.5 units per acre, but no minimum or maximum, flexibility is built into the plan…

…allowing for a mix of housing types.

In addition to making both developments dense and pedestrian friendly, the city also took steps to make sure they were well-designed; the city rejected proposals until it found the best ones.