NY Times "Cracker" Vacation Experience

[Kurt]

What is Cracker architecture?

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/Detailed/12106.shtml

In its simplest form, a Cracker house is a wooden shelter built by the early Florida and Georgia settlers. Lured to Florida by cheap and plentiful land, these pioneers arrived with few provisions and needed to erect shelter quickly and cheaply. The brush provided abundant supplies of cedar and cypress. Rocks or bricks made of oyster shell and lime served as pilings to keep the shelters off the ground. A wide shade porch wasn't just an embellishment. In pre-air-conditioned Florida, the porches provided relief from the relentless sun.

 

[Cil]

BTW you don't want a Sub-Zero. I have had an average of two service calls per year on it, ever since it was new. There's still a problem (an unexplained stalactite sort of thing) that hangs down in the freezer that they can't seem to fix.

I haven't been to Laguna Beach - just La Jolla and Carmel, as well as the San Francisco area. What I've seen on the CA coast is all upscale.

No, I don't want a Sub-Zero--Consumer Reports steered me clear of them when I read the repair reports, and I don't like stainless steel anyway.

I suppose, as we see looking at the different inferences found in language, upscale is all in the eye of the beholder. I really appreciate the Frank Lloyd Wright-influenced architecture I've seen in both northern and southern California, but the upscale stuff I saw seemed awfully McMansionish.
But then I'm not into five car garages.
Some folks have more money than taste.
And yes, the whole thing is at the very least mildly condescending and I can understand why people who know the real deal might scoff, or feel insulted.

 

[Miss Kitty]

No, I don't want a Sub-Zero--Consumer Reports steered me clear of them when I read the repair reports, and I don't like stainless steel anyway.

I suppose, as we see looking at the different inferences found in language, upscale is all in the eye of the beholder. I really appreciate the Frank Lloyd Wright-influenced architecture I've seen in both northern and southern California, but the upscale stuff I saw seemed awfully McMansionish.
But then I'm not into five car garages.
Some folks have more money than taste.
And yes, the whole thing is at the very least mildly condescending and I can understand why people who know the real deal might scoff, or feel insulted.

Amen!!! I moved "down" 5 years ago from a large older home to a smaller older home in Dallas. I am surrounded by the McMansions front and side, but luckily not in the back...we still have our privacy there! Next door, the people bought an empty lot that had been scraped a while back. On the day we moved in, there builder arrived with workers to CUT DOWN two beautiful elm trees just on their property that created a wonderful canopy over my driveway. I turned into a madwoman and ran out to try and stop them!! I was told they needed the room to accomodate their FOUR car garage!! I have mourned the loss of those trees everyday. Those people now say OUTLOUD...we should have thought twice about building such a BIG place...our kids will be out of here so soon!! More money than taste or sense!!! Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. Simplify.

 

[seagrovelover]

Amen, Beach Runner. And I'm talking as a native New Yorker who lived ten years in Atlanta and fell in love with it before moving to the Midwest (which I also now love)! Though you need to hear the way Midwest gets knocked down, if you think the South gets a job done on it. Or maybe it's about equal: Southerners are rednecks and Midwesterners are local yokel farmers.

This is so true, we have had many people assume that we live on a farm or have cattle because we are from missouri!!!! ( not that there's anything wrong with that!!) SEINFELD QUOTE.......I had to laugh when I read you'r post, I think most folks just generalize and group people together way too much these days :roll:

 

[Miss Kitty]

This is so true, we have had many people assume that we live on a farm or have cattle because we are from missouri!!!! ( not that there's anything wrong with that!!) SEINFELD QUOTE.......I had to laugh when I read you'r post, I think most folks just generalize and group people together way too much these days :roll:

And here in Texas, we all wear boots, ride horses to school and have BIG hair!!! I wish!

 

[Beach Runner]

Amen!!! I moved "down" 5 years ago from a large older home to a smaller older home in Dallas. I am surrounded by the McMansions front and side, but luckily not in the back...we still have our privacy there! Next door, the people bought an empty lot that had been scraped a while back. On the day we moved in, there builder arrived with workers to CUT DOWN two beautiful elm trees just on their property that created a wonderful canopy over my driveway. I turned into a madwoman and ran out to try and stop them!! I was told they needed the room to accomodate their FOUR car garage!! I have mourned the loss of those trees everyday. Those people now say OUTLOUD...we should have thought twice about building such a BIG place...our kids will be out of here so soon!! More money than taste or sense!!! Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. Simplify.

OMG I know exactly what you mean by the McMansions in Dallas (Atlanta is getting overrun with them, too.) They're huge with gigantic foyers and hallways wide enough to drive a car through, yet on postage-stamp-sized lots. They have every amenitiy you could think of, but they all look alike. Yuck!

 

[DBOldford]

The monster house syndrome has been universally resurrected, it seems. We had people building 25,000 to even 40,000-sq. ft. homes in the hills around here and these were second, third, or fourth homes seldom occupied. Some were tastefully done and screened from view; others were garish and a scar on the hillsides. We finally developed a Viewshed Ordinance to control what could be built in scenic areas (practically everywhere here) and we also require a use permit and environmental review on houses that are larger than 5,000 sq. ft. Maybe "too little, too late," but a message was broadcast.

There is a monster house ordinance now in Grayton that controls the size of houses built now by height limitations and parking requirements that are tied to size of the house.

I like some of the so-called "Cracker" architecture. These emulated designs have a tendency to get rather contrived in the translation, however and then it seems ridiculous. "The Truman Show" is a good demonstration of this...good intentions that translate into a somewhat contrived environment. Who would argue that front porches shouldn't see a revival? My concern about RiverCamps is the conversion of all those natural areas to urbanized uses. Where will all the critters live? And I have to wonder if those architects have ever tried to extract palmetto roots? Stay tuned...

 

[Miss Kitty]

Hopefully, the critters will find a way to stay and make the "simple life" HELL for those people!!! I know that's a bit rude, but there you go.

 

[Smiling JOe]

The monster house syndrome has been universally resurrected, it seems. We had people building 25,000 to even 40,000-sq. ft. ...

Just wait until the majority of the US population is elderly and living in FL. The monster beach homes around here will be converted into 1-level condos with elevators to access your condo. We tend to think short term only when building these days. If your 6,000sf home is not converted into condos, you will probably be confined to a few rooms on the ground floor when you are no longer able to get around.

 

[FoX]

Hopefully, the critters will find a way to stay and make the "simple life" HELL for those people!!! I know that's a bit rude, but there you go.

The critters will do what they were born to do. If that makes someone feel like they are in hell too bad - but why would you wish that on anyone?