British and American Houses

In the USA there is plenty of space, except in big cities, so many houses are large and have a lot of garden around them. Most are detached, but there are also duplexes, which are similar to British semi-detached houses. Ranch-style houses are built on one floor only. Mansions are very large houses where rich people live.

Some types of houses are associated with certain parts of the country. New York City, for instance, is famous for its brownstones, tall, narrow buildings named after the material used to build them. New England has clapboard houses, and in some cities there are row houses, similar to British terraces. In Midwest there are many wooden frame houses with painted roofs. The South has large wooden houses built before the Civil War in the antebellum style. But all over the US houses are built in many different styles.

Many Americans prefer to live in suburbs rather than in a city centre, in order to have a pleasant environment and a lot of space. They often live on housing developments, areas where all the houses were built at the same time and are similar in style. Most of the 97 million households in the US have a home with at least 5 rooms and more than one bathroom. Most also have a front yard and a back yard.

In the cities many people rent an apartment in an apartment building. Apartments usually have no more than three bedrooms, and are often rented furnished. An apartment with only one room may be called a studio or a loft. A building in which the apartments are owned by the people who live in them is called a condominium or, in some places, a co-op.

Poor people may live in apartments in tenements in the downtown area of the city, in small, very basic houses or in mobile homes. Despite the name, many people keep their mobile home in a trailer park and never move it.

A typical US house has two storeys or floors. Upstairs there are several bedrooms and at least one bathroom. The parents share the master bedroom, which may have its own bathroom attached. Children often have their own bathrooms. Downstairs there is a kitchen, a living room and a dining room. There is usually also a bathroom or a half bath, which has only a toilet and a sink. Many houses have a porch where people sit when the weather is hot. Americans take pride in their homes and like to show visitors round.

Americans often move home from one city to another. Finding a new place to live is not difficult, except when moving to a very large city. It is usually possible to find an apartment to rent one day and to move into it the next.

About 65 percent of US homes are owned by the people who live in them. The costs of buying and selling are relatively low. People thinking of buying a house ask a real estate agent, or realtor, to show them several houses. When they decide on one, they discuss with the people who are selling it, and then arrange a mortgage (a loan) with a bank.

People look for different kinds of homes at different points in their lives. Students and young professional people tend to live in apartments near city canters. When people get married and have children they often move out of the city and buy a house in a suburb. In most suburbs it is possible to say how much money people have by the size of their houses and yards.

Towns and cities in Britain have grown a lot in size over the last two centuries. The oldest houses are usually those closest to the town centre. Many people live in the suburbs areas on the edge of a town. Some suburbs consist of new house estates, while others were originally villages that have become joined to the town as it has grown.

Some people prefer to live in a village and to commute to work into the nearby town. Villages are considered to be pleasant places to live, as they are quieter and less polluted than towns and are closer to the countryside. They usually contain a range of houses, including old cottages and new houses and bungalows.

Many British people prefer to buy a house rather than renting one, because they can decorate it or alter it to suit their own taste and because they believe they will have more privacy. Young people and those who cannot afford to buy a house live in rented accommodation. Some rent a furnished bedsit (or bed-sitting room), a combined bedroom and sitting room, and share washing and cooking facilities. Others rent a flat or a house often sharing the cost with friends.

Houses are bought and sold through estate agents. Few people can afford to buy a house outright, so they have to take out a mortgage (a loan) with a bank or a building society.

Most houses are built of brick with a tiled roof, though some, especially in the country, are built of stone. The largest and most expensive type of house is a detached house, which is not joined to other houses and has a garden all around. Detached houses have at least three bedrooms and one or more living rooms plus a separate dining room and a kitchen downstairs. Many large Victorian houses with three or four floors or storeys have now been converted into several flats.

Semi-detached houses, or semis, are extremely common. They are built in pairs with one house joined to the other house along one side. These houses usually have two or three bedrooms. There is a separate garden at the front and at the back of each house.

Terraced houses date from Victorian and Edwardian times and were built mainly for working-class people. Four or more houses are joined together in a row.

There is little or no front garden, so the front door opens onto the pavement. Access to the back garden is through the house. Terraced houses were originally quite small. They had two bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen| a dining room, an arrangement called “two up, two down”. Most have been now extended and bathrooms added, and in some towns they have become fashionable with professional people.

Cottages are small, very old village hoses. Some have thatched roofs. Many have been modernized inside but still keep the wooden beams and other features that are thought to give them character. Some people think of a country cottage as their dream home.

Bungalows have only one storey and this makes them especially popular with older people. They are mostly found in villages or on housing estates.

High-rise blocks of flats sometimes over 20 storeys high with several flats on each floor were built in many towns in the mid 20^th century. Many have since been pulled down because they needed a lot of repairs and because people didn’t like living in them.

Houses in Britain often seem small for the number of people living in them. In some cities house prices are very high so people cannot afford to move to a larger house as the size of their family increases. In many families in many families with more than two children some of the children have to share a bedroom and only get a room of their own when an older brother or sister leaves home. Very often all the family shares one bathroom. In many houses there is only one living room plus a kitchen with a dining area. Some houses have two small living rooms. Children often play and do homework in their bedroom.

In order to overcome the problem of lack of space some people have a loft conversion to make a new bedroom in the roof space. Others add extra room or bathroom downstairs. There is often not much space to extend because neighbours’ houses are close. In warm weather people like to sit outside on the patio or in the garden.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 2080