While in Franklin a few weekends ago, I couldn’t help but drive through the historic area looking at their gorgeous homes again. Â And of course, when I do that I like to take pics to remember the beauty of them all and to share it with all of you. Â I appreciate an older historic home and the curb appeal in these small communities around our country. Â We have it here in my hometown of Marietta and also where I live in Kennesaw and these little historic areas are full of eye candy.
Come along with me on a drive-by of Franklin, TN. Â Some of these homes are new builds made to look older and historical.
Here’s a question for all of you.
Why can’t builders today build cute and charming homes like this anymore?  I know there are some newly built neighborhoods around Atlanta that do go for charm and old fashioned appeal of these older historical areas, but they are the minority and I know are more expensive to build.  I get that, but couldn’t builders try a little harder to build new houses that aren’t McMansions and just have beautiful curb appeal and charming details like these homes?  I think it would be popular all over again if they would do that.  We have some older neighborhoods built in the 70’s and 80’s around here with charming Cape Cods, brick traditional, Colonial, Craftsman, cottage style homes. They are still beautiful today and very desirable neighborhoods, but there aren’t enough of them!  We just can’t figure out why builders don’t build that style again for newly built affordable homes that aren’t huge and mega-expensive?  It’s certainly not happening here in the Atlanta area on a large scale.  Boutique builders are building older style homes, but they are way out of the price range of normal folks.
Just a question I thought I’d throw out there. Â What are you seeing in your area?
This was one of my very favorite ones! Â I love the charm of a brick Tudor style home like this. So charming. I’m not going to comment on all of them, so enjoy the beauty.
How did you like those drive-bys? Â Gorgeous, aren’t they?!
I’d love to hear your answer to the question I pondered above. Â I think it’s a fun discussion and I’d love to hear what it’s like in your part of the country.
I love the character of these homes. They all don’t look alike. In my neighborhood they are building houses that all look the same. I hate that because I live in historic Marietta and the homes that are around me until just recently were not cookie cutter homes. Yes they are building $500K homes but they all look the same. Bummer! Thanks for sharing these homes and their unique architectural structures. It was a great drive by…..
I live in a Grade II Listed Georgian town house in Arundel, West Sussex UK. It really is a beautiful place to live with lots of history – we have a castle here too. There is a housing shortage in the UK, and large housing estates are cropping up all the time. Our first house was a new build 25 years ago, but I much prefer the character of an older property. I think I agree with you too-I prefer the 1st property. Chris x
Hey, Chris, I am sure there is lots of charm and character in your part of the world. Never been to the UK, but would love to visit one day. I know that Europeans in general live in very tight housing markets.
Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing. I live in a historic district on Cape Cod, so I love seeing Southern homes. They are so stately.
Lynn, and I would love your part of the country with those charming Cape Cods, my fave. I am going to visit New England one day, haven’t been up there before!
I see Andrea’s comment above is just what I was thinking when I looked at the pictures–character and not all the house are the same. So so beautiful–each one on it’s own. I am happy you included a church too. I love old churches have been known to just stop and take a picture. Thank you for sharing with us.
Oh I just love those porches!!! You’re certainly right – there seems to be a big difference between “builders” and “craftsmen” !!! My sister lives in a darling bungalow in Winston Salem NC – her entire historic Ardmore neighborhood is a sight to behold! Beautiful post! Thank you!
These homes are beautiful. They have character and elegance, something not seen in most of the new houses. I lived in Toronto Ontario until a few years ago, and there the older homes are being torn down and huge new mansions are going up. Not only do they all look the same, they take up as much of a lot as possible, leaving little space for gardens and trees. Thank you for sharing these lovely historical homes!
I’m pretty sure we could pack up and move to that city today:) Beautiful!
I live in A small city in southwest Georgia in the historic residential district
The architectural features rNge from tutor, craftsman bungalows, two story Queen Anne an ante bell
One story that was moved to the site it sits on in the 1890s from a little town that had a yellow yellow fever breakout
And our Episcopal Church was designed by the famous eclesiactical architect Ralph Adams Cram
An historic theatre showcasing all of the performing arts and a hotel that is open and over the top in architectural features The Windsor
So please come visit Americus we will welcome you
One more thing we have 2 National Historic Sites Andersonville and Jimmy Carter
Come visit ???
Hi, Leila, thank you for the invitation. I know about Americus, but have to say I’ve never visited there. I sure have an appreciation of these older quaint towns though.
I live in Southern California and it’s all about the money! Builders want to build as many houses as possible on a small plot of land for the least amount of money. In most new middle-class neighborhoods you can almost reach out a window and touch your neighbors house. And those are houses starting in the 500k range on up. Someday I hope to buy a quaint old cottage in a small town!
Yes, Julia, the builders are the same here! Crazy greed for sure! I just hate the way things are going in home building.
I just love a brick Tudor! In many of the towns, you will see the different styles of homes in the old downtown areas. Outside of that area, you normally have the cookie cutter homes of the decade in which they were built. My dream home would be a little brick Tudor or Craftsman style cottage in a small town.
Here in Memphis, it is the same too. Builders are not building average homes that have character. 50 and 60’s ranch style homes are being bought for their generous lots and are being torn down to build huge homes. Unfortunately the newer homes are all the French country style. They are custom built so it isn’t one builder. That’s a shame too I feel. We moved 4 yrs ago to an older neighborhood. We love it. All the homes are different. My home was built in the 1950s. There is one other house, blocks away, that is the same as ours. The original owner of ours added a roof across the front to make covered porch and ran brick stairs across the entire porch with curved wrought iron hand rails on either side of the po. It looks different than the other house blocks away. It is more French Traditional stye. We love it and appreciate that we are only the second owners!
What a beautiful town! I’m adding that to the must visit list. I agree with what everyone above said…huge, expensive, cookie cutter houses on tiny lots. The once charming town of Clemson, SC has been ruined by greedy developers who tear down everything and put up student apartments that look like penitentiaries. Once the past is torn down, there is no going back.
Love these beautiful homes. Like you, I wonder why builders are not building homes with character instead of all looking the same. Thank you for sharing.
We live in a small cape built in 1980. We felt it had good bones and a lot of charm when we bought it 3 years ago…a fireplace in both the kitchen and the living room! We just underwent a 3 month renovation to the entire inside.. basically its brand new from the plumbing and electrical system to the flooring.
Just yesterday we were saying how whenever anyone sees our house they say “what a cute little house” (can’t say CUTE without saying LITTLE).
We feel fortunate.
Yes, Carol, that’s the kind of house I love too, charming, quaint and cute on a pretty street. That’s all I’d ever want! But you just can hardly find it. It’s got to be an older 70’s or 80’s neighborhood to find it, same around here and they get snapped up. Why oh why can’t they still build neighborhoods like those?
Hi Rhoda, I totally agree. I am a Realtor and am seeing a change in what buyers are wanting to purchase. The market is wide open to the scale down buyer but the properties are hard to locate. When a cute older home in a desirable area comes on the market it goes under contract quickly. Thank you for sharing such beautiful photos.
I love drive by days!
I live in one of the most expensive markets in Northern California..it’s just silly what goes on here. I understand the bells and whistles of architecture cost more money. But people here are trading character for space. We’ve bought the lie we must have thousands of square feet. When family from England visit, they are astonished at the size of homes. So that’s what gets built. Big soulless homes. No character. Ugly flooring. As much as I blame builders for choosing money over character, people are buying it, so it’s people too. (And I don’t really blame anyone. To each his own.) but give me a snug cottage.
Yes, Cassandra, we say that too! Someone is buying these big ugly new homes, but why? Most of the new homes we see around here are so unappealing, I wouldn’t have them. Give me a well taken care of charming cottage style home in a nicely kept treed neighborhood any day over new!
Rhoda, I have lived in several states in a number of houses-all built between 1920 through 1980. All of them have had their own charm. The ones built between 1920 through the mid-thirties were all brick, a craftsman, a tudor and a cottage bungalow. They all had the old house characteristics shown in some of your pictures. The “newer” houses had charm because they were either one of a kind builds or houses that had their own charm added over the years. I imagine the new neighborhoods being built today will gain their own charm as owners add on, re-landscape and change fixtures out over time. I really dislike areas where older houses exist and new owners have them torn down to build Mcmansions that look out of proportion as well as out of character for the neighborhood. The current bget. I think that unless you go high end the construction is geared to go fast and cheap. Sadly the newer construction I have seen is built cheap and looks it. I think many people opt for large size over quality workmanship. Th current home I live in is from the early 60’s, it’s a mid-century modern with low sloping rooflines, lots of glass and some great old trees off the back of a huge patio. I purchased it from the original owners and am dealing with the old windows, roof and really tired exterior. I originally felt ready for a new house with no work to be done but determined to get the new features as well as old house character was way beyond my budget. One option that I would have considered is finishing a lot of the inside myself with upgraded products but builders and banks don’t approve. I owned a beautiful house built during the depression and one built during WWII. I spent a lot of time pondering about the owners who had the money or the access to materials to build during those times. Both were middle class type homes. By the way I would love to go house peeping with you.
Iris, some very good points and ones that we talk about all the time. It’s very disheartening to see the house situation. Not to mention the ugly modern homes that were built around Atlanta in the 70’s and 80’s. Oh my gosh, there are scads of those old houses that look so tired and dated now and who wants to live in a neighorhood with all those crazy angled cedar 70’s homes, yet those are out there all day long. It’s harder and harder to find reasonably priced 2 or 3 decades old homes that have character. Most have to have it added, which is fine, it can be done and that’s why most people buy resale houses and add their own character, like I did in this house.
” The current bget” was a cut and paste error in my previous post. Sorry
Each one of these homes is beautiful! Believe me, my husband and I have pondered that very same question. Nothing built since 1990 has a shred of character or charm! We live in the mid-west and I would love to see a builder who could bring back this architecture and end the mcmansion syndrome! Thank you for sharing this beautiful scroll of homes. Totally enjoyed!
Gwen, totally agree, why can’t they do that? I bet those homes would sell out fast if some smart builder would get on the train and start doing these character driven homes. We sure aren’t seeing it here in Atlanta in large amounts. There are some of these neighborhoods scattered around, but they are SO expensive and out of range for the average person.
In the desert everything is red tile roofs and stucco homes. Most all of them look exactly alike. A stripped down version of spanish style.