Bethesda is an unincorporated suburb of Washington DC, just a couple of miles from the DC border. The town was quite small until after WWII, when growth really took off. As a result the dominant housing type are colonial houses built very quickly after the war. They are typically of masonry construction, and have three bedrooms (one very small), living, dining and a small galley kitchen. During the recent housing boom, many of the houses have been torn down to make room for McMansions, but most often owners have chosen to add onto their homes. We have take this approach in attempting to tur
n a solid but relatively charmless house into something a little more interesting, and perhaps add a little variety to the street scene (I once made the remark to one of the neighbors that I don't like colonials, which from the expression on her face, I realized immediately was the wrong thing to say. I really meant that it would be nice to have some choice besides colonial).So we have added onto the house twice, and changed the roof line a bit, and tried to give the house a little of the arts and crafts look (probably only partially successfully). The front (upper right) is perhaps more successful, in part because the landscaping has taken well. Since this 2004 picture, the shrubs have grown substantially, giving the visitors to the house something more to focus on than just a lawn and cars lined along the street. The rear addition, while very functional, is less successful. This is partially because the addition isn't really connected well with the existing house. More work will be needed here eventually.
In the rear, the scene is less inviting. This is in part because many of the shrubs have not done well. The soil is not well drained, and in the Summer it is mostly shaded by large trees which are mostly in neighbors yards. The view from the house, is therefore not terribly interesting, and does not inspire one to venture outside.
Visible in the third picture is a very unattractive fence, constructed in four sections by four different neighbors. Beyond the fence you can see one neighbors dilapidated garden shed, and less visible (from this photo) are rear additions on four houses, all finished with either vinyl or aluminum. A simple solution to this problem would be a high wall or hedge. Backyard walls or fences are limited to 6 feet in our neighborhood, and going higher could never completely block the view of vinyl. A hedge would take many years to grow. But the main objections that we have to this approach is that they are: 1. typical and uninteresting and 2. do not draw you out into the space. No matter what type of screen you put in the back, you end up with an uninviting and ultim
ately little used space, as seen in the fourth photo.
