Ugly house contest going on?

[Chas]

We have a winner and this baby is actually for sale!! There are two almost the same. . . and I have to pass them both just about every day. Some of you are firmly on the side of "beauty (taste) is in the eye of the beholder" while others, myself included, realize that there are building norms and the golden mean and things like proportion, usual and customary traditions and styles and functionality with which to rate a building. (Form follows function) Using the smallest windows on the market because you are cheap shows that you are cheap. Not including a front door ( as in what I think is a winner) is just wierd. Filling the yard with "holiday houses" and making it look like an American Motel from the 1950's is just not beautiful or stylish. .and you really have to wonder about the function there.

The house I propose as the winner has a massive red roof and looks like the Pyramid of Cheops. One unbroken roof line from eaves to peak. Lovely. . .perhaps in Egypt! It has the holiday houses out front and they have just plunked a palm tree in each corner of the lot to give it that tropical feel. You dont get the full effect of the pyramid from the pictures though.

Just found it on the internet. 27 million will buy you this baby. They have carefully cropped the pics not to show you the ugly wall by the road, the pyrmid effect of the roof and the lack of a front door. Yes, that appears to be a bathroom window facing the front yard. You can see the holiday houses. ..there are FOUR of them ( Five houses for that inflated price! What a deal!

If you are still unsure about what we are discussing here (beauty, etc) Do this. Come to Palm Hills. Park next to this house ( can't miss it) and compare it to the modern white house to the right. ( Which I have been in.) Compare these two and YOU decide which is more beautiful, appropriate to the site, attractive, comfortable etc etc.

We now have two Roman temples now. The huge one, on the roundabout by the Sports club is massive ( Beautiful house rule #1. .the bigger the better. ..right?) Of course it is built right next to the road so that everyone can be sure to see it.. . .rather than by that lovely pond. Further up toward Stamford they are building the "House of the Seventeen Gables" could the architect get more peaks, corners, bump-outs and overhangs into a single building? I think not.

I haven't had time to develop this thread with pictures of all my "favorites" . I am busy moving from one house in an older development to another across the street which I have bought. The houses here are nothing special, but OK and most of those which have been renovated have been done reasonably well.

I just continue to lament the loss of what were once beautiful rolling meadows leading up to the lovely and well designed golf course. To give you a point of comparison, the Palm HillsGolf club and the Sports club were both designed by a real architect who I greatly admire. ( No idea who he is) They are world-class and stunningly beautiful.

Then I have to add that this is the OPINION forum and all of the views expressed are my OPINION.

[Gutte]

I salute the winner! I totally agree with you Chas, this house, which unfortunately is currently getting a lot of identical sisters put up on various other plots in Palm Hills, is very weird and outright ugly. It will be interesting to see if anyone will actually buy this. Who wants a living room that would be easier to accept if it was a waiting room in a train station?

[lomuamart]

I'll have to get up there and see these wonders.
I used to go to the country club for swimming years ago. Havn't been since as they upped the price to 200 B.
I bet I'd notice a change now.
27 mil. Bring it on.

[JW]

Go On Lomu
Get the Blankety Blank out!! Could have a wicked party there! The fridge in the house will take about 400 bottles of beer.

[Chas]

Having just come through Palm Hills ( a daily trek) I noted that the monstrosity in question ( Our winner!! ) actually sits in the middle of a group of five houses. . like an ugly duckling or some huge uninvited guest.( That elephant at the party)

The two on either side are really attractive ( like a house should be) pleasant to look at, fitted carefully into their surroundings, appropriate to a tropical setting. .and the one I have been into was just as nice inside. Very liveable. I might say very beautiful.

So to expand on my invitation, park in front of the Pyramid of Cheops and look at this series of five houses along the main road. You decide which you would buy, which you would like to live in and. . .yes, which of them is the most beautiful. ( Just can't imagine anyone picking the ugly sister in the middle. . .unless you are going on the size of the refridge and planning a birthday bash for 500 guests.

Gutte, thanks for agreeing here. When I first started this topic, we had a bit of discussion on people building what they like. That is one thing, I understand that. You are building your OWN house and you want it this way or that way. and it is a lot more acceptable to me than this. This is a company building what its "architect" likes and then trying to sell it. .and just not giving a damn what the house looks like or does for the neighborhood. 27 million??? I would bet the first thing ANY buyer does is remodel! ( Maybe put in a front door? or perhaps a nice garden in place of the motel cabins.

I also noted that the builders of the small Roman temple completely forgot . . .the driveway!! There is no place to park your car except in the street. . where the owner (?) were parked today. ( Perhaps they plan to travel through the skies by chariot? Who knows.)

[lomuamart]

Excactly, Chas.
Can't wait to see them. Should be an experience.

[Gutte]

Chas, I think it was someone other than me who posted about people building what they like and that whatever they like is good for them and that others should not bother to much.

I, in fact, agree with almost every word you have posted in this thread, except when you say that "the more money you have the less taste you have". That of course is not true at all. I believe we expect more taste from rich people because we assume they are well educated and have had the possibility to acquire some taste along the way to their wealth. And if we are expecting more taste from the rich, we are in for disappointment, I believe, because "money doesn't buy them taste". Poverty obviously doesn't buy anybody taste either, but the poor man's lack of taste just doesn't show.

You are right, however, that I am building my own house now, hopefully to my own taste. When I have come a bit further, so I can see if it will come out the way I've visualised it, I will decide if I dare tell you where it is. In that case I might pm you to possibly get a judgement. I don't think you will approve (it's too big!) but I hope you would not pronounce a new winner of the competition in this thread.

[Chas]

Gutte, I was not so much making an observation about society at large but rather drawing that conclusion from what I see at Palm Hills. . and in a few places around Thailand where the rule seems to be. .if you've got it, flaunt it.

Good luck with your house. I am sure it will be functional as well as beautiful. I am rebuilding mine and will happily post pics when it is done.