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When you hear the word tenement it might conjure up images of dark, run down and overcrowded late 19th century apartment living. And although there were many negatives to tenement life, one aspect that always seems kind of cool to me is the notion of multiple generations of families living in the same building.
The modern American living ideal has become for many that of living in a large single family house in the suburbs with big yard and a bedroom and bath for each member of the family. Increasingly these days that single family house is in a different part of the country than our parents or grandparents. But for a variety of reasons from care giving for elders, downsizing due to economic conditions, wanting to tread more lightly on the earth or even wanting to return to an old-fashioned way of living, more families are choosing to live in multi-generational or crowded urban settings.
I've always looked back fondly on my childhood growing up in a relatively small house with my mom and sisters and living next door to my grandparents. If my family didn't think me insane (they do) and had any interest (they don't) I'd love us all to crowd into a family compound - I envision something like a small apartment building where we each have our own unit.
However I'm not alone in my crazy dreams of crowded family living. There's even a British reality television show in the works to showcase my fellow travelers.
We have family friends who retired and moved to an apartment near their daughter and her family. The daughter has talked about buying a brownstone and renovating it for all the family to share. Although, like my family, not everyone in theirs thinks it's the perfect idea, I am quietly cheering on my "cousin."
Samantha Storey covered the trend in the New York Times:
Although the poor are most often associated with crowded living conditions, upper-middle-class professionals like Dr. Shaw and Ms. Avery are increasingly choosing to live in a small apartment in Manhattan because they cannot afford to upgrade to a two-bedroom and they do not want to move to the suburbs.
By the standards of a single New Yorker, theirs is a big apartment, with the bedroom accommodating a queen-size bed, a crib, a toddler bed and a dresser. But most Americans would not consider a one-bedroom apartment adequate for a family of four. Read Move Up? Move Out? Families Squeeze In
The article found some bloggers recognizing themselves:
c*potion writes:
But at the end of the day, I'm still convinced that smaller is better for how we want to live. Though it can be challenging to convince others (who have our best interests at heart) of this. On those days, I'll have to remember to pull out that article when my in-laws wonder why I've shoved our children into a closet instead of moving out to a multi-bedroom place in the burbs.
The Sassy Kathy muses:
It's a very interesting read. And definitely fits right into my personal musings of late. I've been wondering, from an evolutionary perspective, is it more natural for humans to want to live in close quarters and be part of a close-knit urban community, or isolate themselves enough to have land and space that is specifically theirs?
At his blog, Apartment Therapy, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan chronicled how he and his wife arranged their 265-square-foot apartment to accommodate their new baby.
An condo building in Columbus, Ohio quickly sold out of units ranging from 490 to 620 square feet.
"These are not just people who are moving; they are people who live in existing homes," she said. "They are taking back their lives so they can enjoy more time with friends and family. People have reached a point where they have overstuffed drawers, closets and cabinets with items they don't cherish and don't use."
Three generations of family built themselves a compound in Fairfield, California:
The idea for the family compound started after Joe was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1999. The five Shilts daughters had all moved out and married, so the Fairfield house where they had grown up was too big and too much work.
In the meantime, the Currys and Lavells were outgrowing their Fairfield homes.
Teresa Lavell came up with the idea of everyone living together. She and Steve had moved all over the world while he was an Air Force pilot. After he had completed
