Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Feminine Homes

[spintus (spintus]

On Wed, 30 Aug 1995, Harry Pasternak wrote:

> * The evolution of the home continues with the feminine attributes. Things
> change drastically in Canada and the USA after the second world war. Suburbia
> happens. Most of the feminine features that produced that cozy, warm,
> comfortable feeling are stripped away from both inside and outside of the
> houses that are built for the middle-class. The profit motive takes over.

Harry,

I found your description of the evolution of housing very interesting, 
but I still don't understand what you mean by "feminine attributes".  
>From this description, it sounds as if you are talking about furniture, 
chairs, private spaces, porches.  How has any of that gone away (except, 
maybe, porches)?  And what does that have to do with the profit motive?

On another note, I don't know what information you received from the 
Boston people in Vermont, but if you'll recall recent affordable housing 
threads here, New View (in a western suburb of Boston) mentioned how 
expensive land is in this area.  As a former member of Cornerstone, 
located in Arlington (in metro Boston), our group learned firsthand how 
expensive it is to acquire property.  There may be affordable housing 
help (though that varies from town to town, and metro Boston includes 
MANY towns), but the sheer cost of acquiring land and building or 
acquiring property and renovating seems to bring unit prices that are 
farily comparable to market prices.  And market prices in Boston are VERY 
high.  There's not much affordable housing in Boston, at least not by 
the  standards of many of the people on this list.

Susan Pintus