The Garage: Rec Room or the New Front Door?

Since society has become dependent on cars, the garage has become an essential part of the household architecture. While they may not be used solely for cars anymore, it seems weird to see a house without a garage nearby. Every house in my neighborhood either had an attached garage or one on their property. Here is the progression of the garage as viewed in the northern part of Lancaster, my hometown:

At first, garages seemed more of an afterthought, hidden behind the home or built as a separate entity. This garage seems more like a shed than a garage, and it doesn't even match the house's style, as the roof is facing a completely different way.

This garage is still detached, but at least has the same color and gable as the rest of the house.

I don't know what to call this... semi-attached garage? Not sure how well that covered walkway protects these homeowners from blowing snow/rain that comes at you sideways.

Finally, an attached garage! While this house is the same style as the one above it, I would guess the garage wasn't originally attached. However, the hallway-mudroom was probably built later on to utilize the garage as an entrance instead of just somewhere to store junk.

Maybe it is because I am just used to parking my car in the garage and heading into my kitchen, but I believe many people in my neighborhood utilize their garage entrance more than the front door. Unless you are the unlucky teenage driver who has to park in the driveway, most garages are the main entrance/exit in my area. This is a big plus on those snowy nights or below-freezing days when I don't have to scrape my windows off because I was parked in the garage all night, away from the elements! I also think if you read the Home Finder looking for a house in the suburbs, realtors/sellers no longer need to specify that garages are included, or even attached for that matter; I think it is just expected.

This breezeway from the garage to the main part of the house allows a nice view of the backyard from the street... These people now have three front entrances to their home. Where to ring the doorbell if you're selling candy bars?

This also seems to be another added-on mudroom, though the stairs give the side entrance a front entrance feel.

This home, (probably built between 1988-2000 like most homes in my development) appears to have a mudroom. However, it is nothing more than a walk through door into the garage, indicating this may be a 2.5 car garage and a fraud?

Jackson briefly discussed the three-car garage. I agree that it makes the home look larger and gives the indication of more wealth. A few of these homes do have more than two cars, yet often they are parked in the driveway because the three-car garage has become a basement addition (meaning that it stores a lot of stuff, leaving no room for cars!).

Another trend seems to be the attempt to hide the garage and make the door not visible from the street view of the home. Maybe it is so the house appears to be larger than it really is; a number of the homes pictured above even put drapes/shades in the garage windows so it looks like the rest of the house. Most of the homes pull off the look from a dead-on view, but the last two houses pictured failed, as they are actually on a corner lot. Everyone can clearly see their "front" facade is a fake as the garage is visible from the side street.

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum, some homes seem to feature the garage as an element of the home. By building on top of the garage, as is so vital in the raised-ranch style, homeowners can utilize upward space on a narrow lot (much like skyscraper developers).

Other home builders seem to push the garage way further out in front than the rest of the home. It must also be to maximize square footage by building back into the lot, as in the ranch pictured above. The second home's garage seems to be wider than the front of the home itself. (Dolores Hayden calls these homes "snout houses", which I think is very appropo.)

Of course, the garage is no longer just for a car or storage. Many homes have converted their garages into family rooms or rec rooms. My aunt actually knocked part of her garage out to build a master bedroom on the bottom floor; she still has a garage door, and the house looks the same from the outside but since the garage is shallower, she can no longer park a car in there. Also, there are a number of homes on my street which have screened-in garages in the summer. I don't know if this is a Buffalo thing, but it's very common to see people playing ping pong or sitting on lawn chairs inside their garage through a screen in the summer. When the Sabres were in the playoffs (seems like a loooong time ago) screened-in garage parties were the norm, as the weather was breaking and rec rooms had invaded the parking spaces. A popular example of the all-purpose garage is that of Tim "the Toolman" Taylor on Home Improvement. He used his attached garage as a workshop, mostly for his hotrod restoration project, but in Season 1, episode 21, Jill invaded the "man space" with a pottery wheel and aromatherapy candles. I couldn't find the episode anywhere online, maybe one of you will have better luck; it's called "A Battle of Wheels." Jill also used the garage for laundry, especially after Tim souped up the washing machine.

Home, Home in a Ranch

One of the most popular vernacular house styles of the '50s and '60s was the ranch. Some general characteristics, from antiquehome.org, include:

**single story**, asymmetry, horizontally oriented to the street, hipped or gabled roof, minimal ornamentation, made of natural construction materials, and "new" amenities such as attached garages, sliding glass doors, and huge picture windows.
On the inside, a ranch features open floor plans with living room, dining areas, and family rooms blending into one another, and bedrooms clustered into another portion of the house.

Continuing on my journey through Depew/Cheektowaga (see previous post), I was able to find examples of many a '50s-'60s ranch. These pictures were taken in many neighborhoods off of George Urban Blvd. and Dick Road. Many different neighborhoods featured the same type of ranch, possibly demonstrating the same builder in different phases of his development.

The first three homes are basic cubical ranches with a hipped roof. The second and third have added wooden porches, possibly the smallest example of the "rambling" aspect of a ranch. The second and third homes have also updated by siding their homes, as most of the other ranches in their areas were made of brick (being from this neighborhood, I know the homes were originally brick).

These two homes from my childhood street, Jane Lane (in a neighborhood of girls' names, my street was the only one that rhymed) show the original porches, with the second being enclosed (also known as the house which always gave out apples for trick or treat on beggars' night, as Depew's trick or treat was on Oct. 30, not Halloween). The first features a two-car garage, which was an original option.

These three homes feature another option: the pushed-forward garage. This allowed for either a larger backyard or patio, or, more likely, a family room.

These next three ranches show a gabled roof with the ever-important picture window. Notice not all of them have attached garages.

These homes are less of the cube style, as they clearly form a rectangle shape. Legend has it that as land became cheaper, ranches were built on wider and wider lots, allowing for more street frontage and the loss of the square shape. The second brings a whole new meaning to "rambling ranch", as they ran out of room on the first story and apparently opted to ramble up and add a single bedroom on the second.

Little Pink Houses for You and Me

Ah, the good old American dream: capitalize on the freedom you are guaranteed by this nations to work hard so you can buy a nice house for yourself and your family. Yet for many, the American dream transformed into the American nightmare, as the widespread sharing of this dream led to mass conformity. Criticism of this mass conformity began almost as soon as the dream started to be realized, as Malvina Reynolds wrote "Little Boxes" in 1962. Walking down Stevenson and Rosedale Blvds. off Millersport Highway (Grover Cleveland), the similarities between houses that show conformity were clearly evident. Most often, homes that were right next door to each other looked the most similar; apparently keeping up with the Joneses was a serious matter in this neighborhood.

These two homes, which are right next door to each other, have exactly the same frame, with the peak over the top right window and the semi-centered entrance. However, a few differences can be seen, such as paint color, addition/removal of shutters, and the option of a side entrance.

These homes, just across the street from the ones described above, offer the same little box shape with awning and porch options. We can possibly interpret this as a backlash against conformity; because the original owners may have had similar jobs, social activities, and family lives, an attempt at making their house their own and trying to add individual touches was possibly their only escape. However, it is clearly evident that the houses "all look just the same."

Still on Stevenson, you can see another type of house that wasn't exactly the same as the first style, but still has clones on the block. Once again, the side entrance and front step railings were an option to give homeowners a chance to "look different" from their neighbor, even though it was just a small change.

To continue with the discussion of house ornamentation, these homes on Stevenson in Amherst had the decorative bird which dominates Cheektowaga/Depew. Clearly the eagle has landed in another town, leaving the "Polish" theory open for debate.

Speaking of the Depew area, I know the neighborhood I grew up in definitely fit the "Little Boxes" conformity style. The following pictures are from Fairview Drive, Beverly Drive, and Alys Drive West, all off of George Urban Blvd. near Transit Road. Each picture is a different house, although you may not believe it.

Clearly each of these houses has the same floor plan and layout. They are all one story homes with no basement. While differences have been made with siding choices, brick patterns, or awnings, it is evident that each home came from the same cookie cutter and simply put on their own choice of frosting. This last red house was probably the most famous home in my entire grammar school. I took a close-up of the front window because if you look closely, it appears there are people looking back at me through it. However, these are not people, but mannequins. For as long as I and any OLBS alum can remember, the owners of this home have had full-size mannequins in the window, occasionally they change their outfits according to the season or holiday. In a neighborhood of conformity, this is sure one way to stick out! It has obviously worked, because discussions before the first bell would always include a mannequin update at every grade level. No other homes in the area got so much recognition.