New home, er, house comparison

Yesterday, while biking to the post office, I went down a somewhat obscure street in my own neighborhood. A few new houses have been put up in the area; one local builder in particular has done a very good job of putting up good-looking homes on vacant lots in the older part of town.

On this obscure street I noticed two newer houses which were recently finished next to a third new home. On the left is this third home:

The two houses next door are done in a much different style, a style that does not exactly meld with the rest of this older neighborhood:

The home featured in the top photograph makes me think of a well-built home in an established and desireable neighborhood, with streets lined with mature trees, close to downtown and the heart of the community. It’s easy for me to think of settling down in a place like this and making it my own. It seems to possess a halo of familiarity, of invitation. This house has gemütlichkeit.

The houses featured in the second photograph look to me like McMansion wannabes. The one in the foreground looks particularly cheap with the white — probably vinyl — siding on the gables over a brick first level. Homes like this make me think of new subdivisions next to distant strip malls, subdivisions with no trees and a plethora of fuel inefficient vehicles. It’s difficult for me to think of settling down in a place like this and making it my own. It gives off an aura of transition.

If a person can have a house with gemütlichkeit, why in the world would they buy (or build) a McMansion wannabe? Then again, I suppose it’s not surprising that this German word has no equivalent in American English. There are, however, equivalents in Danish, Czech, Dutch, Russian . . .