New City Books The New City Books series explores the intersection of architecture, landscape architecture, infrastructure, and planning in the redevelopment of the civic realm. Focusing on government sponsorship of design, the study of weak-market cities, contemporary American housing, and the role of a research university as a resource and collaborator, the series highlights the formative nature of innovative design and the necessity for strategies that trigger public and private support.
The New City Books series includes: From the Ground Up Innovative Green Homes Formerly Urban Projecting Rust Belt Futures New Public Works Architecture, Planning, and Politics Modern American Housing High-Rise, Reuse, Infill American City “X� Syracuse after the Master Plan
Modern American Housing High-Rise, Reuse, Infill Edited by Peggy Tully With contributions by Andrew Bernheimer Julie Eizenberg Jonathan Massey Gregg Pasquarelli, Vishaan Chakrabarti, Douglas Gauthier, and Philip Nobel Stanley Saitowitz
Syracuse University School of Architecture and Princeton Architectural Press
Published by Princeton Architectural Press 37 East Seventh Street New York, New York 10003 Visit our website at www.papress.com. Syracuse University School of Architecture Slocum Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 www.soa.syr.edu © 2013 Princeton Architectural Press All rights reserved Printed and bound in China 16 15 14 13 4 3 2 1 First edition No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher, except in the context of reviews.
Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners of copyright. Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions.
Series Editor: Mark Robbins
Special thanks to: ,Sara Bader, Janet Behning, Nicola Bednarek Brower, Fannie Bushin, Megan Carey, Carina Cha, Andrea Chlad, Benjamin English, Russell Fernandez, Jan Haux, Jennifer Lippert, Jacob Moore, Gina Morrow, Katharine Myers, Margaret Rogalski, Elana Schlenker, Sara Stemen, Andrew Stepanian, Paul Wagner, and Joseph Weston of Princeton Architectural Press — Kevin C. Lippert, publisher The New City Books series is made possible by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Syracuse University School of Architecture, Judith Greenberg Seinfeld, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, and the Central New York Community Foundation. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Modern American housing: high-rise, reuse, infill / edited by Peggy Tully; with contributions by Andrew Bernheimer [and seven others]. — First edition.
Design: Pentagram
pages cm — (New city books)
Project Editor: Dan Simon
Includes bibliographical references.
Contents
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Preface and Acknowledgments Mark Robbins
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Risk and Regulation in the Financial Architecture of American Houses Jonathan Massey
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Density: A Conversation about Life, Liberty, and the American Way Gregg Pasquarelli, Vishaan Chakrabarti, Douglas Gauthier, and Philip Nobel
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On Practice Andrew Bernheimer
High-Rise 000 56 Leonard Street 000 550 St. Clair 000 Macallen Building 000 Culver House 000 High Line 519 000 HL23 000 Aqua Tower 000 459 West 18th Street 000 40 Bond 000 Jack London Tower 000 New Carver Apartments
ISBN 978-1-61689-109-1 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Architecture, Domestic—United States— History—21st century—Case studies. 2. Architecture and society—United States— History—21st century. I. Tully, Peggy, editor of compilation. NA7208.2.M63 2013 728.0973'09051—dc23 2012024510
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Living Arrangements Julie Eizenberg
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Reuse Rag Flats The Porter House 497 Greenwich Street Queen of Greene Street The Piazza at Schmidt’s
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One York Leavitt Residence Finn Lofts 346 Congress Street The Bank Atrium House Rieger Hotel Addition
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Urban Architecture Stanley Saitowitz
Infill 000 Switch Building 000 Hancock Lofts 000 Mezzo 000 2281 Glisan 000 Glenmore Gardens 000 The George 000 Gardner 1050 000 Formosa 1140 000 The Schermerhorn 000 The Dillon 000 PRD 845 000 Court-Houses 000 26th Street Affordable Housing 000 Casa Feliz 000 Art Stable 000 The Brook 000 Alligator 000 Thin Flats 000 1028 Natoma Street
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Notes on Contributors Illustration Credits
Risk and Regulation in the Financial Architecture of American Houses Jonathan Massey
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Daniel Kariko, Club House, I-4 Corridor, 2009, aerial photograph of a partially completed subdivision near Lakeland, Florida, from the series SpeculationWorld Daniel Kariko, Lost Roads, Central Florida, 2009, aerial photograph of a partially completed subdivision near Lakeland, Florida, from the series SpeculationWorld
Modern American Housing
Risk and Regulation in the Financial Architecture of American Houses
What is a house? Among other things, it is an instrument for distributing economic risk and opportunity among individuals and institutions. Although it is often seen as a stable foundation for home life and household finance, the house is equally an unstable commodity affording its owners the opportunity for profit and the risk of loss. In the United States, two of three owner-occupied houses serve as collateral for the mortgage loan that made the house purchase possible. Through mortgage financing, American houses mediate our relation to state and market, integrating us into global credit markets beyond the scope of everyday awareness and instilling disciplines that shape our conduct. Our houses mediate between the microeconomics of household finance and the macroeconomic forces of a globalized economy. House design and construction are governed by zoning codes and building codes, of course, but they are also regulated by tax codes and institutional practices that encourage some kinds of consumption and discourage others by assessing them at different rates. Expenditures on housing are subject to this kind of sumptuary regulation through tax provisions, such as the mortgage interest deduction, and institutional supports, such as the mortgage insurance provided by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The lending, underwriting, and insurance assessment practices of the FHA, other bureaucracies, and banks affect the balances between risk and opportunity in homeownership and between convention and innovation in house design.1 The regulatory regime governing the consumption of houses has evolved significantly over the past century, and this modernization of housing finance has influenced both the design and the social meaning of houses. This history has four major periods linked to cycles of boom and bust in the real estate market and the larger economy. As the twentieth century began, the laissez-faire state provided little support for homeownership apart from the homesteading provisions in
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