Buffalo-style two-flat house reimagined (urban / TND)

Last crawled date: 1 year, 10 months ago

TLDR: This is a 'new old house' version of the iconic Buffalo two-flat. There are some key features that make a Buffalo two-flat unique, compared to two-flats of a similar vintage in the rest of the United States or Canada. As far as I know, this is the only Buffalo-style two-flat in the 3D Warehouse. A two-flat is the modal house in the city of Buffalo, New York. Most were built between 1905 and 1930, during the city's boom years. A Buffalo two-flat (sometimes called a 'Buffalo double') differs a bit from those outside the Niagara Frontier. How? * There's shared entry door to a common vestibule or 'airlock', which has an entrance to the ground floor unit ('lower'), and stairs leading to the second floor unit ('upper'). Buffalo two-flats almost never have separate front doors for the lower and upper units. * An odd local custom in Buffalo is that folks almost never use the front door to their houses (it's only for very special guests, like the Pope). Because of that, secondary doors are usually on the driveway side of the house, where it's easier to get to, instead of the rear. * Buffalo two-flats usually have a substantial feel, and a fairly large footprint for the narrow lots they sit on. * Each unit usually has three bedrooms. Elsewhere in the US, two-flats with two bedrooms for each unit are more common. * Sometimes, the lower unit has a sun room instead of a front porch. The two-flat is a great example of a 'missing middle' housing type. Often, the owner would live in one flat (more often, the upper), while a tenant or adult child would live in the other. Rent from the tenant would help pay the mortgage. Sometimes, two siblings and their families would buy the house together, with each household living in their own flat. From the outside, this looks like a normal, mostly original Buffalo two-flat. However, this model has a more contemporary floor plan, packing a lot into each 1,250'2 (115 m2) unit. * Open floor plan, with a large living room. * 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. * Large master bedroom, with a walk-in closet and en-suite bathroom. * Laundry room, large enough for a separate washer and dryer. * Kitchen pantry. * Large walk-in closet off the kitchen. * Exclusive access to the attic for the upper unit, from spiral stairs in the living room. * Attic skylights. * Basement with 8' (2.4 m) ceiling height. More about the Buffalo two-flat: * http://msaag.aag.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/16_Stein.pdf * http://buffaloah.com/a/archsty/indver/stein/ This model is meant for form-based zoning code illustration. To keep things simple, interior detail work is limited to floors, walls, doorways, ceilings, stairwells, and stairs. Go Bills.