What Is The Average Price For Roof Repair On A Rancher And Bowie Maryland

In the years following World War Two, Americans realized that they were ready for peace and tranquillity. After the stress of the Great Depression and the horrors of an international war, it seemed time to settle down. Young people, particularly, craved normalcy and comfort. They got married, moved out of their cramped apartments, and created idyllic domestic lives with their growing families. But at that place was a problem: there weren't really plenty houses for them.

The property developer William Levitt, ofttimes called the "Father of Suburbia," posing with a map of 1 of his developments. [Source: Wikimedia Commons]

Enter William Levitt, a property programmer from New York City. Having served in the war himself, Levitt recognized the growing demand for affordable, reasonably sized family unit homes away from decorated city life. In 1947, he purchased land on Long Island and built the perfect neighborhood: new homes in a variety of styles, tailor-made for veterans and their new families. Levitt tried to cut construction costs wherever possible, ensuring that his homes were affordable without loans: he made deals with lumber suppliers, established his own factories, and pioneered assembly-line construction that required less labor fourth dimension. "Obviously y'all can't motility houses downwardly a conveyor," reported The Washington Mail service, trying to explain the Levitt method to its readers. "But you can move specialized workers along a line of houses. And you can suit delivery of materials ... just like the flow of automobile parts to an assembly line."^[1] As an added perk, he fifty-fifty included the latest appliances — electric stoves! refrigerators! — in the cost of every domicile. Levitt's scheme, however anarchistic it seemed to the public, concluded upwards being a success — his community filled rapidly. Past belatedly 1948, Levitt's company had congenital eight,000 new houses — the cheapest went for around $8,000.^[ii] The success inspired more growth; throughout the 1950s, Levitt communities appeared in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Today, we know these tranquil, homogenous developments as "suburbia." Levitt, capitalizing on his new fame, named them all "Levittowns."

In the belatedly 1950s, Levitt was prepare to expand over again — this fourth dimension, to a different metropolitan area. Although he had once tried and failed to found an earlier customs in Norfolk, Virginia, Levitt remained certain that he could observe success in the Washington, D.C. region. He suspected government employees — many of them former servicemen — were a perfect market place for his homes. Now the hunt began for a perfect location: somewhere quiet, just still easily accessible.

Belair Mansion in Bowie in the 1950s. Once the home of Maryland's colonial governors, it became the center (and namesake) of Levitt's new development. [Source: Library of Congress]

In 1957, Levitt chose a small town in Prince George'southward County, Maryland equally the site of the new Levittown. Located off of ii user-friendly highways, Bowie was only dwelling house to well-nigh 600 people — the closest eye-of-nowhere to the District.^[three] Hoping to bring some novelty and character to the new development, the Levitt company purchased the enormous, historic Belair Estate: a two,280-acre colonial plantation and horse subcontract that was one time the home of Maryland governors.^[4] To laurels the site'south history, Levitt decided to break with his tradition and go on the local name for his evolution. Construction of "Belair at Bowie," a community of new homes with a colonial mansion at its center, began in 1960.

"America'south biggest builder of single-family homes has moved into the Washington suburban area," the Post reported in July 1960.^[v] Once again, Levitt's company built speedily and efficiently, using the assembly-line method that attracted so much national attention. The local newspapers were certainly interested in the scheme, wondering how the new Bowie houses would resemble but differ from their predecessors in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Information technology was rumored that Levitt planned to include all of the latest mod conveniences, including central air conditioning — a must for D.C. summers. The Post was baffled when they discovered that the new homes were "basementless," having been built on physical slabs.^[vi] But ultimately, the affordable cost of the properties was the largest describe. Earlier construction had even finished, Levitt promised Washingtonians that his "selling prices would exist full prices with no closing costs, no legal fees, [and] no added financing fees."^[7] It was the perfect deal for young families and working professionals.

The grand opening of "Belair at Bowie" on October 8, 1960, saw 20,000 prospective buyers waiting to tour model homes. [Source: House & Home xx, no. half-dozen  (January 1961)]

A street of model homes opened to prospective buyers on October viii, 1960. Information technology was a dreary, drizzly solar day, but the weather didn't end twenty,000 visitors from attending Levitt'due south grand opening.^[8] Traffic was backed up for i 1/2 miles as families tried to park near the site, while lines outside of the Levitt offices extended all the fashion down the street.^[nine] Thanks to all the local hype, Levitt was set up to operate on a first-come, beginning-serve basis. Inside a calendar week, his company sold 243 of their available lots — over $iv 1000000 worth of property.^[10]

Clients who attended the "open house days" could view model homes in five dissimilar styles: the "Country Clubber," iii and four-chamber "Colonials," the "Rancher," and the "Cape Cod." Equally attending existent estate agents explained, these homes could be customized and personalized by their buyers, based on budget and personal taste. The colors of houses — as well equally kitchen and bath appliances — were decided by the builders ahead of time, so families could choose the exact model and color combination they liked best. Most lots were similarly sized at 8,400 square feet, to ensure fairness of price — but some, including corner lots and a few "suitable for doctors or dentists" and their practices, were priced higher.^[11] The streets, street lights, sewers, and water pipes were pre-installed and municipally operated.^[12] And, equally rumored, each Belair home included "all the extras you lot'll need for comfortable living": appliances, primal air-conditioning, electric fixtures, painting, landscaping, garages, driveways, congenital-in Boob tube-FM antenna systems, and more.^[13]

There was another draw: Levitt wasn't just building a housing development, he was trying to create a new community. The advertising brochures, given to all prospective buyers, outline his plans for a town surrounding the new houses:

"Land is set aside and donated by Levitt for houses of worship of practically every major religion…the shopping center in Belair will have a variety of excellent stores ... land has been set aside for the use of the Board of Education for new schools ... [and] owner-residents of Belair volition receive membership priority in the Bathroom and Tennis Social club shortly to exist erected by Levitt and Sons, Inc."^[14]

The cover of the Belair at Bowie sales catalog, published by Levitt and Sons in 1960. [Source: individual collection]

It also explains the reasoning behind Levitt'south diverse house styles and colors: past mixing the types of homes on each street, as well equally their colors, the builders created "greater diversity and a pleasing neighborhood scene."^[xv] These weren't the now-stereotypical "cookie-cutter" homes. In fact, Levitt even decided to create curved streets and cul-de-sacs to make the development seem less planned.

For anyone who has ever bought a abode in a new development, these details may seem standard practice — but for Washingtonians at the fourth dimension, the process was revolutionarily easy and user-friendly. Plus, the prices couldn't be beat. Just every bit Levitt promised, each spacious firm — with land and amenities included — was affordable for the average center-class families. The cheapest Belair model, the iv-bedroom Cape Cod, started at $fifteen, 990 — at signing, all a buyer needed was a "practiced-faith" deposit of $100.^[16]

The first six Belair families moved into their new homes just over a twelvemonth later, on October 17, 1961. Thereafter, the customs grew by at to the lowest degree seventy-five occupancies each week — the Mail service called it a "take-possession hegira."^[17] Afterwards a year of sales, over 1,500 families purchased and reserved lots; about interested parties had their names placed on waiting lists, hoping for time to come streets to exist added.^[xviii] Spurred on by this massive success, Levitt's company planned additional neighborhoods in their emerging hamlet — to add some graphic symbol and charm and make it easier to navigate, each "section" would be organized by letter of the alphabet. The original Belair neighborhood, Somerset, has streets that all begin with "S." Information technology was quickly followed past Buckingham, Kenilworth, Foxhill, and Tulip Grove — or, to a Bowie native, the "B," "G," "F," and "T" sections, respectively. Houses went up and then quickly that, on one visit to a construction site, a Post reporter asked a architect how long information technology actually takes to make ane. "'How before long practise you want it?' he cracks back. 'We could build 'em overnight. Don't laugh ... it's been washed.'"^[19]

That same reporter wrote a vivid clarification of Belair in early on 1962, two years afterwards construction first began. Her account doesn't quite describe the idyllic paradise that Levitt clearly wanted, but does show that rapid expansion was just part of the feel:

"At eye level, the aforementioned vista is a jumble of brightly colored shutters, rooftops, mud, trucks and workmen. The air smells of fresh paint and newly turned earth. Children are in galoshes against the mire surrounding virtually every firm. Tradesmen track a muddy path into virgin sales territory. Yards tin't be sodded yet and fluctuating temperatures brand the oozing earth look like brown meringue."^[xx]

Reasonable cost tags aside, there were enough of reasons for moving to the new Levittown — despite all the mud and construction noise. New residents felt that they were getting that new start in life, exactly what they craved later the uncertainties of the previous decades. It was the new American dream. "The peace and placidity are heavenly," a resident reported, adding that "the thought of a make new community starting all at one time ... has a pioneer spirit."^[21]

One of the original Levitt Belair homes, in the "South" department, subsequently all the grass and copse grew in. This model is the Cape Cod, the about affordable option. [Source: Library of Congress]

Levitt continued to be active in the area until the late 1970s, calculation numerous sections, churches, schools, and shopping malls to his ever-expanding vision — in fact, thanks to Levitt, Bowie is now the fifth nigh populous metropolis in Maryland. The majority of residents still live in Levitt homes and, in some cases, are their original and sole owners. Growing up in Bowie, it was never unusual to visit a new friend'due south firm and find that, with a few exceptions, it looked exactly like your own. And the alliterative sections became such a tradition that even more recent developers have followed the trend, capitalizing on previously unused letters of the alphabet.

But the prosperity of Bowie, even today, hides an uncomfortable truth. William Levitt's vision of the perfect neighborhood included bonny homes, affordable prices, comfort, and customs — but only one blazon of neighbor. From the moment Levitt arrived in Washington, local activists — and even the regime —b ecame aware of the developer'due south racist policy: none of the homes in Belair could be sold to people of color.

Footnotes

1. ^ T.East. Applegate, "Housing 'Behemothic' Building 150 Homes Per Calendar week," The Washington Post, October 10, 1948.
2. ^ Ibid.
3. ^ "Maryland Town Officials Rap Curb on Looting," The Washington Mail service, March 11, 1959.
4. ^ "Belair Mansion," The City of Bowie, Maryland, https://www.cityofbowie.org/288/Belair-Mansion
5. ^ "Mr. Levitt Comes to Town," The Washington Postal service, July ix, 1960.
6. ^ Ibid.
7. ^ Ibid.
8. ^ "Levitt'southward Biggest Opening," The Washington Post, October 15, 1960.
9. ^ Ibid.
10. ^ Ibid.
11. ^ Belair at Bowie Maryland (Levitt and Sons, 1961).
12. ^ Ibid.
13. ^ Ibid.
14. ^ Ibid.
15. ^ Ibid.
16. ^ Ibid.
17. ^ John B. Willmann, "Levitt Sets G-Day For Belair Homes," The Washington Post, September 30, 1961.
18. ^ Ibid.
19. ^ Victoria Velsey, "Levitt Moves In and Pastureland Becomes a Boondocks," The Washington Post, January 1962.
20. ^ Ibid.
21. ^ Ibid.

Source: https://boundarystones.weta.org/2020/06/12/belair-bowie-suburban-dream

Posted by: grafsaink1990.blogspot.com

Share this post