the midcentury ranch for a new generation
35 min readThe neo-mansard roof is as polarizing as an architectural feature can be.
Mansard roofs belong along a street in Paris or maybe on an 80’s vintage Burger King, right?
Yet, a slew of mid-century architects seemed to independently decide to give them a try in residential design during our favorite decades. Why, though? Why?
Today, I’m talking that over with our favorite mid mod house historian, Atom Stevens.
In Today’s Episode You’ll Hear:
27 min readThe University Hill Farms neighborhood is one of my favorite parts of my home town and in today’s episode I’ll be your tour guide!
What’s the best mid-century neighborhood near you?
I don’t just mean the spot with the best mid-century homes.
What’s the best neighborhood?
Now MCM houses all tend to exist near schools, parks, libraries, churches, office buildings and more from the same era.
But while the mid-century years are my absolute favorite for housing design, they weren’t always the best for urban planning.
For one thing, it kicked off our national car-centric planning era, and we’re still in it. But there are some winners.
Today I want to talk about the history and qualities of one of my favorite parts of my hometown, the University Hill Farms neighborhood. If you’re Madison local, it’s the area around Hilldale mall, and it’s great by several measures. It’s even a historic district inventoried in the National Register of Historic Places.
