Historical hood
This quaint house is on Plaza Street in Village West. There is a lot of charm in the old Grove neighborhoods. This is what most of Center Grove looked like when I was a kid. Lots of these old houses around Oak Street used to have shops and stores inside. All the others lined the rest of the Grove and were residences.
It's a shame they could not be restored, rather than be replaced by the cookie cutter townhouses that has taken their place. The Grove could have been such a great historical district. Greedy developers and ignored zoning laws ruined the soul of Coconut Grove.
posted by Tom Falco at 4:00 PM
YOU MAY NOT LIFT THE PHOTOS & TEXT. IT'S COPYRIGHTED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. YOU CAN HOWEVER SHARE A STORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY USING THE LINKS HERE.
For linking to this one story, just click on the time it was posted & just this story will open for sharing - only through social media. Not copying and pasting.
20 Comments:
There's also the question of whether maintaining an old, wooden house in this climate is a losing proposition for a property owner. Call me crazy, but I think that might have something to do with it.
And yet New Orleans and Key West and many many other areas of Florida have a strong regard for history and the houses seem to survive there without a problem.
My house is from 1930 and my sisters from 1920 and we both love them. It's amazing what new windows and proper insulation can do to a place.
Yeah, that place looks sweet, sign me up to buy one asap!!
The really old houses were made of Dade County Pine, which is now extinct. Termites didn't eat it. Some "softwoods" are actually harder than some "hardwoods." Pine resin hardens and becomes like rock. If you've ever tried to drive a nail through it, you'd know that.
So even though the climate is what it is, and even though termites abound - chomping up those cheap new houses - the old houses that have stood for many years will continue to stand with just a bit of maintenance. If anyone will let them, since the lot they stand on will "hold" a multi-family monster.
Quint and charming. I want one. :)
Some people from New England just bought a foreclosure small 1940's bungalow in our neighborhood (on Lennox), and I was sure they would tear it down - the property is a mess. Just talked to the guy doing the plumbing - the house and property are going to be renovated. I love it!
I live in one of these and termites are all abound - although granted the main foundation on the house is probably intact.
Personally I think the biggest issue- is space- my house is 500 sq feet. thats it. forget offices and dining rooms- I don't get a tub or a closet- or room for guests. I can't imagine a family trying to live inside one of these. so yes- the best use of the huge plot of land it's on- is to tear it down and build something with more than one room...
as quaint as I think it is.
Grape:
You say that you live in a condo. Yet you're always perfectly willing to sermonize on how other people should spend their money.
If you really believe that these shotgun shacks are worth saving, then please, by all means, invest in one.
As for my own 1925 bungalow, I wish to God that I had the money to tear it down and build something newer and better in its place.
Grape,
When you tout the historic preservation efforts in Key West, perhaps you should mention that this has been largely driven by well-to-do out-of-towners who bought out the natives in the interest of spending inordinate amounts on renovations for what are mostly second homes, in the process creating an affordable housing crisis for the actual workers who make the whole place tick.
Wow...the last two comments are really sad. Would it be the same to say that all those the bought a studio apartment can think that perhaps that they now find them too small that the building should be torn down so they can make bigger apartments? What ever happened to additions? Besides, the lots are too small to build anything bigger.
As for greedy developers ignoring zoning laws, they really can't do it without the help of the building and zoning department, and of course, the commissioners.
We should have a petition drive to save the charm that makes Coconut Grove, and has for many years, quaint houses like these and it's vegetation!
Eyesore.
Anon at 8:00 am no doubt means well, but the comment is typical. From the perspective of a property owner, the phrase, "[w]e should have a petition drive to save the charm that makes Coconut Grove," translates into, "Let's force certain property owners to bear the cost of maintaining what we deem to be aesthetically desirable."
Forcing people to keep up such structures is, in essence, a tax.
Again, if it's that important to you, by all means, buy one! Or propose that the city exercise its eminent domain powers to buy them and preserve them as public space. (Hahahaha, oh, the headaches that would cause!)
The price of progress is sometimes steep. As the Grove has developed, it has indeed lost a considerable amount of the Charm that inspired so many to move and develop here in the first place. I saw the same thing happen when I lived in the Haight-Ashbury in the mid 80s, and 90s. Everyone wanted to be part of this cool community...but they also wanted to tweak things, at first, just a bit, but that bit turned into a lot and soon it lost much of it's flavor. I see that happening here and hope that a happy median can be found, especially now that the Real Estate Market has cooled and developers have toned down their spree. Let's see if folks who respect and really enjoy and really get the spirit of The Grove can polish our treasures and keep the Grove's Bohemian/Bahamian spirit alive.
THANK YOU Grape, is swilp insane? Key West, New Orleans all these other places and many more, Savannah have historic homes.
Has anyone heard of the land trust. Key West has such. Other community in Fl. have them also. West Grove almost had one and had the opportunity to implement one. All was a go then one of the developers/architect collaborative meeting having purchased a number of these places.
My shrink says that I'm perfectly sane, and I think that what I have proposed is perfectly sane, as well. I happen to believe that people make rational choices, based on their own self-interest and personal values. Call me crazy, but that seems to be what makes the world go 'round.
An historical house in Savannah or Key West has intrinsic value, and I would be happy to own one, for the right price. But owning an old house is a burden, both economically and in terms of one's peace of mind.
If you believe that these shotgun shacks have such intrinsic value, then you really ought to buy one, maintain it, fix it up, and preserve it. If you don't, then aren't you being hypocritical in demanding that someone else do so?
SWLIP - making sense like he knew how to do it all along.
I couldn't agree more.
I'd summarize as "put up or shut up" myself, but brevity is apparently under-appreciated in the grove.
I don't see it as a question of either these old dilapidated shacks or cookie cutter townhomes. Good architecture can be both, contextual and pleasing, while keeping solid modern values.
Who, really, wants to live in a rickety shack, 400-500 square feet, with no closets? (Well, in NY it is considered doable).
The solution is for a bit stricted zoning laws that demand some kind of contextual design for modern structures, so a developer can't get away with vanilla homes, but the shacks can be replaced by something humane
These 'could be anywhaere homes that have NOTHING to do with The Grove should never been allowed to proliferate. It is poss. to design a new home that fits with the hood.
Post a Comment
<< Home