(first posted 1/25/2017) We were walking along 8th Avenue the other day, where there’s a number of particularly charmless (or charming, depending on your point of view) apartment buildings from the sixties and seventies. When I notice that this one was called “Classic Apartments” I decided they were CC-worthy. And of course, there’s a few CCs sitting in front of it. This style is called French Mansard, and it’s ever so faithful to the original.
Having stayed in genuine French mansard apartment (with great views) on our last trip to Paris, I can assure the similarities are…next to none.
Next stop was this unnamed complex a few doors down. “Falling Water“, perhaps? It does rain a lot in the winter here.
In the next block is the inimitable Jade West. Another French mansard, sporting quite fresh wood shingles. In case it’s not apparent, the faux rock walls do have a very decided jade tint to them. And of course, another CC out front.
Is the tint more apparent in this shot? Maybe not; it needs some sun to bring out the full effect. But there’s two green flags out front, just in case.
Here’s a charming street-side facade on the Stone Apartments. But then that blank wall is obviously there on purpose so as not to compete with the sculpture out front. What is it; a whale vertebrae?
I don’t think so. Hmm. Maybe that’s why it’s called the Stone Apartments. Or not.
The Hosanna apartments just down the street weren’t going to be shown up by that art work in front of the Stone, so they’ve put up these two steel girders with very artistically-cut holes in them. Wouldn’t you want to live there just for the art alone, never mind the architecture?
And then there’s this one, on the same street. What a charming facade.
And appropriately enough, it’s called the Alpine Manor. Who comes up with these names?
The previous apartments are decidedly not student-oriented buildings. But a day or two later, walking near campus, I couldn’t resist this jagged roof line of the Canterbury Court. Those tri-toned blue panels break up the upstairs rather nicely. Stephanie thought it was terrible, but I rather like its playfulness…in relative terms, anyway. There are so many dreary older (and newer) apartments near the campus.
One more. The Orbit is actually a re-purposed commercial building, and done quite well as it plays up its mid-century heritage both in its signage as well as its interior decor.
Well, that’s a wee sample; maybe I’ll feel inspired to do more another time.
That sculpture in front of the Stone Apartments is a gen-u-ine Clyde Dumont. Note the subtle curves and the beautiful patina. This wonderful example is known as “Oceanside Picnic”. It is a testament to the fine people of Oregon that such a fine piece can be left on public display, for the enjoyment of art lovers everywhere without being maliciously vandalized or worse yet, stolen. On a more somber note, shortly after Clyde finished this masterpiece he was hit by a breadtruck and killed.
Was it a Divco? 🙂
Not sure on that, but one could argue that in it’s own way a Divco is a work of art. ?
Gee, I always thought a Divco was a milk truck used during the 50’s-60’s, for home milk delivery.
There are people who would steal that sort of thing? You’d need more than just afew stronbg backs…
Great post, Paul. Curbside Classics aren’t limited to what is in front of the curb, but what is behind it.
Nothing says 1970’s quite like a Mansard roof.
Nothing says 1870’s like a Pittsburgh Mansard roof!?
Being from Pittsburgh myself, I heartily approve!
Ah, Liverpool Street in Manchester. a pioneering urban restoration.
I rather like the multi-blued Canterbury Court. As to the mansards…an emphatic yes when found on a second empire Victorian (or in Paris) but a “just no” on these apartment buildings. I think those sail past mid century modern and into the Early Seventies WTF era.
I really do think apartments that look like those can be found in just about every city though. If you trade the stone for brick, those look an awful lot like the apartment my wife lived in when we first met. Her complex was called “The Chateau”, no doubt to play up the Frenchiness of it all…
Any chance The Chateau was in Chapel Hill, NC? There’s a mansard-roof apartment complex there called The Chateau — very popular among students. It was (appropriately) nicknamed The Crapeau when I lived nearby there due to the apartment complex’s impeccable maintenance.
That’s the one! My wife called it the Crapteau as well, unsurprisingly. So much charm…my favorite part was how deafeningly loud the A/C unit was–she called it “the hurricane”. Great location, not-so-great facilities/management.
She was there from early ’07 to mid ’09, a couple years past her student days (2003 UNC grad).
I lived in Chapel Hill about 10 years earlier — not sure I’d ever been inside one of the Chateau’s units, but I knew several people who lived there. I strongly suspect that these days, the place looks and feels exactly as it did then!
Yes those horrible mansard-like roofs are from the 70’s, well past midmod years. There are probably a lot of fast food versions still around. But that Alpine Manor (WTF?) screen wall thing is probably closer to early-mid 60’s, kind of the tail end of midmod I think.
Apartments built in the 60, 70’s, & 80’s had awful kitchens.
However, I loved their boldness in the colors chosen & that they were not afraid to use a ton of real brick & wood (exclude 70’s & 80’s) trailer park wood panels.
I do love the 70’s, & 80’s ranch style homes.
Agreed on the Canterbury Court. If you’re going to have a terrible building, why not have a fun terrible building?
The cheapo student building my wife used to live in was formerly called Irvis Heights (known to occupants as Nervous Heights) but was recently renamed “The Woodlands”. The sign is now fun, but the rest of the building is still 70s dreary and terrible.
Oh, late 1960s Mansard roofs. The vinyl top of the architectural world.
I cannot look at these pictures without remembering the cheap and cheezy apartments I inhabited during law school. Of the same vintage as most of these, we froze in the winter and roasted in the summer, despite paying a bundle for heat and air conditioning. I wonder if the five (yes, five) single pane sliding glass doors in our townhouse apartment had anything to do with that?
Ah, yes, the Mansard roof phenomenon. I love that look even more when it’s applied to a single family structure and the roofing material is asphalt composition shingle. Nothing can be less inviting than an entire second story swathed in tar and grit with little beady windows peaking out from recesses. There was a house down the street from mine growing up that always made me feel as though gun barrels were going to pop out of those windows at any moment.
I’m intrigued by The Orbit though. I’d love to see some interior shots of those units. I’m always interested in how commercial, retail or public use buildings are renovated into living space, and of course clean lines and spare decoration always appeals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhZRtIU6bqY
More pics here: https://www.forrent.com/apartment-community-profile/1000603936
Ask and ye shall receive, I guess.
Those are quite nicely done indeed.
They pretty much just went to IKEA with a semi, no?
I draw my line on mid-century modern at 1959. Palm Springs being one of the best examples. And the Eichler’s of Northern California, and other locations. Personally believe that the 60’s and 70’s were a low point in architecture in the US of A. That said, great post.
Dave
In the suburb of Gladesville in Sydney, Australia we’re privileged to have “Blandville Court” apartments.
gold
Truth in naming!
Ouch! I like the Mansards, those attract me over the goofy Canterbury any day and especially over mid century boxes. Key with Mansards is execution, I grew up in a suburb built in the 70s so they’re well represented, and while some are terrible with tar shingles and aluminum siding, others are more like the Jade West ones, which have probably my favorite combination of materials, yes I love faux river rock!
Paul, you’ve again reminded me that the new architecture of our vigorous youth now is 40-50 years old (or more). It’s not hard to imagine the cars these apt. buildings’ very first tenants had.
With apologies for the tangent: some “vintage” Big 3 auto ads seemed to embrace the architecture of the time (or a slightly more aspirational version of a likely setting for the vehicle). For that Ford Courier essay I hope to right sometime, here’s a reminder of the lost world of deluxe retail and uniformed delivery service–in which the house pictured seems “just about right” to me. (In contrast, I wanna dig and find a few where vehicle and architecture have seemed to me discordant):
I wonder if these buildings’ designs are (mostly) California in origin and not suitable to Oregon’s more varied climates? Several apartment complexes in the Portland Area seem more suited to San Francisco due to their lack of insulation and insufficient windows. Thank you for these photos of interesting, maybe ugly buildings since I especially like the one with tricolored squares and the repurposed commercial space. I am soooo glad my apartment is not on the ground floor or partially submerged and the west facing view is nice in the Winter.
In the late 60’s in the Portland,OR area a builder from the southwest came and built a complex with tile roofs. He following the practices of the region he came from and laid the tile roof over skip sheathing with no tar paper. A few winters later we had a wind driven snowstorm that drove the snow under the tile and in the attic. When the weather warmed up the snow melted and the ceilings become water soaked and fell, leaving a mess to say the least. I learned about it while working briefly for a tile roofing company later.
Conversely, this house just looks a little bit “too new” to have a ’52 Chevy in front of it (though I known darned well the ranches with big glass were showing up by then):
I suspect that a scene like this would have been seen only on the west coast. Those sorts of houses didn’t start showing up in the midwest until much later in the 1950s, certainly not for buyers of Chevrolet’s demographic.
To be complete, such a tour needs to find a still-extant example of a complex with the infamous T-One-Eleven siding. If you can find one with the mansard roof option, and that heavy timber balcony seen on the ‘Stone Apartments’, youll have hit the dreary-seventies jackpot.
I spent a lot of time touring the Midwest in the early 2000s inspecting and funding renovations of buildings like those you’ve shown into the “early-21st-century Hardie-plank modern” style that is now ubiquitous, and perhaps already on the verge of appearing quite dated. Time passes!
Here’s what any one of those projects you’ve shown has become. In 2004, this wasn’t much different (except for the Minneapolis Brick wall):
http://tinyurl.com/gw4ng4o
There are still plenty of T-111 and mansard roof buildings in Houston. As you note Hardie Plank modern is the current trend and it does provide a good housing option for many.
Ah, warehouse architecture, an appropriate nickname, as unfortunately applied to what we are shown in Eugene, Oregon, by Paul, and elsewhere in the US. Obviously the architectural precepts of George EUGENE (sic) Haussmann responsible for the charming mid to late 19th century renovation of central Paris (see Paul’s photo) during the reign of Napoleon III were ignored except for these modern day bastardized incorporations of bitsa architectural floss like the tar shingled “mansard” roof lines as displayed in Eugene, Oregon. Amazing how the charms of Paris are so poorly distilled, into a parody, as into an Architectural Deadly Sin, as shown here in Eugene, OR, and not the actual charms of G. EUGENE Haussmann in Paris. Should this be the start of a new series of Deadly Sins in CC? The mixing of cars and architecture, if so, I approve.
Aside from a complex about two blocks from my house, this reminds me of the most infamous ’60s Mansard apartment building. The large, 3-story Richelieu Apartment complex in Pass Christian Mississippi was wiped off it’s foundation in 1969, by Hurricane Camille, spawning the legend that 23 Richelieu residents died because they stayed behind to have a hurricane party. The story originated with a, later discredited, female survivor of the complex.
Officially, 8 residents died or went missing, and there was no hurricane party.
Happy Motoring, Mark
Not really a fan of mid-century architecture (though totally digging the turn-of-the-century Parisian architecture), but the ES 300 and Sable together makes for an interesting shot. 2G sables have become very far and few between in these parts, as are becoming their Taurus siblings.
I would love to see a clean one with a nice tint on it and all the lights including the front light bar replaced with LED bulbs. I used to own a 89 Taurus wagon with the L level trim and the rear facing bench in the back. The only option in it was ac and a radio. Never seen another one and have been looking for years for one.
What kind of mileage do these units get? Regular
or premium? 0-60 time?
That mansard roof looks vaguely familiar… circa 1978, above picture is of my first apartment – classic itself and the parking lot as well.
Ours looked like that around the same time frame in Louisville, KY, and they were called Vieux Carré. It translates as “Old Square” and was the original name of the French Quarter in New Orleans. Loads of fun having to spell out your address VERY slowly every time it was asked for.
So nice moving to Arlington, VA after that with South 36th Street as the address!
I used to see buildings like this. I find them more attractive than what’s being built today.
🙂
When I was growing up in Kirkland, Washington, there was a condominium across the street. I don’t know when it was built, but it looked like something out of the mid 1950s to early 60s. I didn’t find it very attractive at the time. In fact I thought it was hideous looking. Today, I find the complex attractive.
Like the Cadillac yesterday these went from au courant to passe to old crap and now, if they’ve held up, the plantings have matured around them and they’re unique and stand out in a good way. I like The Chateau! I’ve seen that fence like decor inside some older NYC restaurants that haven’t been redecorated.
I meant I liked the Alpine.
Why the hell is most anything from the ’60’s/’70’s worthy of adoration, yet if it’s architectural it’s only worthy of demolition?
Not entirely true. But a lot of it was as cheaply made as possible, only cheaper. Every room a cheap low ceiling box. Little insulation, cheap everything. Those fake mansard places are detail free cheap boxes with the fake “mansard” added to fool people.
As cheap as possible for sure. But, they provided housing that people could afford for 50+ years and presumably a decent return on investment for the developer. They were what the market would accept so they are what got built. I wonder what the next step up in the Portland market looked like.
The lifespan of buildings being what it is, and the fact that people who live around them see them every day, means a longer nostalgia cycle. If it’s gotten down to 10-15 years for pop culture and around 25-30 years for cars, it’s 50-60 years before the “hey, you just don’t see those anymore, someone should save that one” factor kicks in.
Reminds me of Noah Cross’s (John Huston) brilliant observation in “Chinatown”:
“Respectable? Of course I’m respectable, I’m old. Ugly buildings, politicians, and whores all become respectable if they last long enough.”
Having spent some time in the historic preservation movement, I can sadly confirm that assumption. Spent too much time arguing that not everything old is a landmark, and not everything new is a disaster…
That second, un-named complex is actually quite nice, and very well maintained.
In the last 60 years, if there is ONE architectural feature I hate, loathe, condemn and any other dastardly term I can think of, it’s the Mansard roof as seen in the first photo (in subsequent ones, too).
No other feature became dated as fast, like maybe 5 minutes after it was designed and implemented!
My favorite architectural design is the International Style in all its variations. Of course, Art Deco is a close second.
Falling Water. hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe
60’s and 70’s Mansard roofs always remind me of the worst parts of Denver and Aurora growing up, and some shady spots of Salt Lake City today. As an architecture buff in addition to my car obsession, probably my least favorite style from that time period. A lot of the 70’s Mansard buildings look so generic to me. Some could be dressed up a bit more with some nice double-hung windows. The sliders add to the bland, anonymous appearance. When I see buildings like this, I find myself looking to the cars around them for something visually appealing.
I live in a small cluster of homes a few of which were built in the late 1970s. The house across the street had a mansard roof. I absolutely hated it. When my mother first came to see our new house, she looked across the street and said, “what a beautiful house! I love mansard roofs!”. (She is now 86 years old). Ten years ago, the house caught fire and that stupid mansard roof held the firefighters off from saving the house. The fire became trapped under it, and the entire house burned to the ground as a result.
It is now a nice park. No more mansard roofs in this neighborhood anymore.
The 1970s – what an eyesore decade.
Where I worked right out of college, the building had one of those stupid facades in front. They must have been so proud of their 1960s accomplishment, they immortalized it on a coffee coaster. About its only function was to block out daylight to the Accounting department.
,,, the coaster…
Gross. Apartment living sucks and I’d hate to wager how horribly depressing these are inside. NO WAY!
I used to own some apartments built in 1966, with mansard roofs. They were originally called “Chateau Village”. What a complete nightmare the mansard roofs were. Constant issues with leaks. The upper story windows in the mansard part were dormers, if that makes sense, as opposed to being inset like most of the examples here. When we re-reroofed the mansard with asphalt shingles (they were cedar shingles), none of the shingles adhered properly. Then we had sagging and falling shingles. I gave up and sold when I could make a profit. The new owners covered the mansard roof with vinyl siding, which probably holds up better, but looks weird.
No claims to being an architectural critic, but for an apartment, I find the Mansard in the first picture to be above average in appearance. I do like wood, so that is part of it. I’ve worked on a lot of types of buildings, but not that one so I can’t speak to it’s propensity for leaks, but visually I like it a lot better than the basic stucco box I so commonly see.
The Mansard in the first picture is reasonably attractive, but wow is it dated, now that I think about it. That look seemed to be rather a short-lived fad, and in Australia at least mostly used on commercial buildings of the disco era. A certain motel comes to mind.
I’ve never been much of a one to notice 20th century architecture, other than to divide into okay or weird, nice or ugly. So I’d never noticed until I read this post that it’s not a look you see these days.
Having grown up in a suburb where nice houses and older-style flats were being demolished and soulless brick boxes surrounded by concrete were getting thrown up as quickly as possible, I couldn’t leave that apartment fast enough, and I’m delighted with my rural half-acre – haven’t been back to the city in about twelve years.
Alpine manor uses what is known as “breeze Block” actually first used in the 1930s but came into vogue and was strongly used in MCM residential and commercial design through the 50a nd into the 60s. it allows air to flow while giving a modicum of privacy. and does give Mid Century Modern Vibe. As for mansard roofs, the use on the 2nd floor of a 2 story structure is clumsy at best. A building needs 3 floors for a Mansard to look correct. Sad to say have seen some on story homes ad commercial structures with mansard siding….. Hideous. Yjere is a well tended apartment complex not far away with the unsavory mansard 2nd floor, it was sided with wide clapboards, but recently replaced with “dimensional’ i.e. “Architectural” shingles. A better look, but still not correct.