Incineration in Hinsdale NH

The challenge of teardowns

Published April 30, 2005

Who would have thought too much prosperity would be a problem for Chicago?

Chicago and the suburbs, to be more precise. Traditional suburban ranch houses with floor plans of 1,200 square feet or so are no longer large enough in some places. They are being demolished to make room for far grander homes. The same thing is happening to some modest Chicago bungalows.

In their place rise suburban single-family houses with three stories and three-car garages, and "chateauesque" city dwellings with as much as 6,000 square feet of floor space on a postage-stamp lot. Most of the city joints span from sidewalk to alley, omitting the traditional back porches and yards.

The symmetry of a winding street of single-story ranch houses is abruptly broken by a brand-new mansionette--with turrets, great rooms, chandeliers, the works. The result can look as if a meteorite landed in the middle of the comfortably familiar community.

This is the "teardown" phenomenon, and pressure is building in many communities to halt it.

Some members of the Arlington Heights Village Board recently tried to pass a moratorium on teardowns. They were unsuccessful.

In October, though, Arlington Heights issued design guidelines for single-family homes. The guidelines don't just attempt to regulate the height, setbacks and density of new houses, the traditional purview of local government zoning. The guidelines venture into aesthetics.

The phrase "character of a neighborhood" seems to be the guidelines' leitmotif. The village Design Commission might recommend changes in the look or details of a home if it would not be in keeping with its neighbors. Modern designs are likely to be a tough sell in Arlington Heights.

Should local officials pass judgment on the design of your home? If the residential design prevalent in Hyde Park had been a criterion for approving the construction of Robie House, it would not exist: The Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece did not fit in with its surroundings.

A more workable approach is that tried in Hinsdale. The village stays clear of debates about aesthetics per se, but it imposes numerous requirements--height, setbacks and density, even the location of portable toilets during the construction.

The teardown debate reflects two conflicting forces. One is all-American individualism: It's my property and I'll do whatever I want. The other is the Levittown instinct that there is security and comfort in uniformity and familiarity.

Hinsdale, Naperville and some other suburbs are finding the right balance. Teardowns are an inevitable part of growth, but municipalities can regulate the height, bulk and other physical parameters of new construction.

Just leave room for creativity and design that may seem incongruous now, but given time, may become tomorrow's classics.


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