The Almost Modern.
I come across a lot of “almost” modern homes. I can ignore the contemporary new builds well enough, but it is the older mid-century ones that I keep coming back to, wondering what to do with them.
The biggest thing in their favor is the price. At $300k and under, there isn’t a lot of mid-century modern proper gems left. Stengers used to fall into that category, but their prices have climbed (rightly so over all) to above that by and large.
Stenger homes were built for the times. The target Stenger home price was under $20k. Depending on what formula you adhere to, that translate to roughly $150k. It is hard to image that happening in today’s developments. The agava is certainly trying. Stenger in the past has been described as a spec developer. That isn’t strictly true. Stenger bought quite a bit of land and then sought clients. The houses where not built without a buyer. He did, however, work off templates in many cases which where modified as the clients desire and budget allowed.
Anyhow, the point being, there isn’t a lot of options in the mid, low-end of market for existing modern stock so some compromises as well as creative remodels may be the best option available to many.
Below are a list of mid-century homes which have hints of modernism whether through initial design or later remodelling. All are under $500k, many in the $250k range. There are probably quite a few others out there and from time to time I’ll post a round up.
1 comment December 8th, 2005
