There’s a big movement among the architects and planners right now to get away from the “snout houses” that we’ve been building for the last 40 years. The snout being the garage. Apparently the planners are trying to get back to the walking neighborhoods where people sit on their porches and hang out with their neighbors. The snout house supposedly detracts from the walking neighborhoods because the garage and driveway are part of the front “elevation” and people tend to drive directly into their garages and shut the door behind them before they exit their cars.
Landscaping and its demands on the water supply are also a part of it. The whole idea behind “smart growth” planning is to concentrate the residential areas onto smaller lots and include services within the neighborhoods so as to minimize the time people spend driving around and contributing to traffic. The environmentalists hate 20,000 SqFt subdivision lots and 10 minute drives to the nearest elementary school.
These so-called “alley” subdivisions aren’t really any more efficient in terms of land use because the alley cuts into what your rear yard area would normally be. It does prevent people from parking 4 cars on their front lawn, though. It is about the only way you’re going to get the “picket fence” effect in a neighborhood.
The other “good” thing about the alley house design is that it enables a nice front elevation even if the lot is relatively narrow. A 50ft wide lot still enables a house with a 40ft wide front elevation – no garage to spoil the effect of the big house.
