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October 2, 2007
South Facing Brownstones
Do you think there is a markedly real advantage to having a south-facing house? I definitely notice that the south side of most streets get the nice light in the front. However, if the front doesn't face south, then your yard gets the nice light, right? Just wondering what people thought, since I've noticed that I'm becoming averse to non-south facing houses when I view a potential purchase, and I wanted to know if you thought it really mattered.
Comments
oops... I meant that I notice that the south-facing houses get the most light (which would place them on the north side of the street).
Posted by: guest at October 2, 2007 6:48 PM
if the garden gets more light better. since nobody would see in the back yard. you'll get light in the back side.
Posted by: armchairwarrior at October 2, 2007 7:24 PM
One advantage of south-facing homes is that the backyard is somewhat more useable, being in the shade -- its easier to grow some plants/grass, and at least in Park Slope they tend to get morning sun throughout the year. By contrast yards in the sun usually need some awning or umbrella protection.
In my opinion some of the nicest orientations are on the avenues (like Sixth Avenue in the Slope) where the yard faces west. Nice, dramatic light.
Posted by: an architect in Brooklyn at October 2, 2007 7:46 PM
We have a North-facing garden and a South-facing front. Which is supposed to be generally less desireable, but I personally prefer it. Because I love getting sunlight through the front bay windows on both floors, that face South. It's so cheery and pretty.
Posted by: guest at October 2, 2007 9:59 PM
So wait, is it more desirable to have the front facing south (so on the north side) or the front facing north (so on the south side). I'm confused. The last poster (9:59) said that this is generally less desirable, but everyone else seems to indicate that it's more desirable (more sun in the front, less sun in the garden).
Posted by: guest at October 2, 2007 10:09 PM
It doesn't matter. Every house is a bit different. It's up to you and how you will use your house. When you read re ads you see they either put, "south facing house" etc or "south facing garden." both seem to be used widely.
Posted by: guest at October 2, 2007 10:34 PM
if you have a south facing house (and thus a north garden) your house will cast its shadow in your garden, depending on whether you want a shady or a sunny garden, that can be bad or good. Most people who want to grow stuff want a south garden, and from my experience, there tend to be less of them on the market. For a while we looked at very few north (or east) garden houses, but the extra long lots in ph & ch give north gardens a leg up in this area since there is considerably more space not shaded by the house (and obviously a 4 story house will have more impact on the situation than a 3)
Posted by: neene at October 2, 2007 11:01 PM
From a gardening perspective, which one of these posters is more accurate:
"One advantage of south-facing homes is that the backyard is somewhat more useable, being in the shade -- its easier to grow some plants/grass, and at least in Park Slope they tend to get morning sun throughout the year. By contrast yards in the sun usually need some awning or umbrella protection."
or:
"if you have a south facing house (and thus a north garden) your house will cast its shadow in your garden, depending on whether you want a shady or a sunny garden, that can be bad or good. Most people who want to grow stuff want a south garden,"
These are contradicting each other. I know nothing about gardening currently but we are starting to dabble in the brownstone market and I'm curious about this so I can understand which type of yard would yield a better garden (for the basics- grass, manicured bushes, maybe a few flowers but nothing much).
Posted by: guest at October 2, 2007 11:42 PM
So I guess it comes down to whether you prefer sun in the front or back of your house then, right?
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 12:37 AM
Unless the house is truly extraordinary, I really prefer south-facing homes. In my search for a brownstone, I am almost, unwisely I know, automatically ruling out any houses that are not south-facing. For me personally it's just very important to get that direct sunlight in the front of the house. Maybe I have SAD or something.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 1:35 AM
For me, it would depend upon the room arrangement. In our house, we will have our master bedroom and living room on the north side with our kitchen and backyard on the south side. Less direct sunlight is preferred in bedrooms and rooms where you watch tv while bright sun is great for having morning coffee and cooking. And a sunny garden is easier to grow things in if you have a black thumb like me (although Im sure a shady garden can also be beautiful in the right hands).
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at October 3, 2007 7:59 AM
Who would want all that shade of a north facing garden? How many impatiens and hostas can you grow? We have a south garden that was shaded by a large tree in the neighbor's yard. The tree died and was removed, giving us nice sun. The one tree in our yard grew 4 feet in one year -- more than it grew in the prior 5 years.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 8:04 AM
I've always heard that a north facing house with a south garden was more desirable. However I have the opposite and still have many sunny spots in my north garden, but, as an earlier poster pointed out, the shade from my three story house is less extreme than if the house was taller. FWIW the north/south difference is somewhat more extreme here in PLG because the Flatbush street grid is closer to the compass points than the Brooklyn grid layout further north.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at October 3, 2007 8:23 AM
We have a south-facing house with north-facing garden and it's a fabulous garden year round. With some work (*and a little professional help, ahem*) I think gardens can work in any light or shade; you just adjust your expectations to what you have to work with.
Gotta agree with Architect upthread about 6th Avenue - in our real-estate hunt we saw three townhouses on the west side of 6th (west gardens, east-facing facades). If the house was close to a cross street, the back of the house had a beautiful open vista looking down the block over everyone's back gardens. I'd also love sunrise and sunset light.
Posted by: zeebee_in_bklyn at October 3, 2007 8:54 AM
Our house has a west-facing garden. As An Architect in Brooklyn pointed out, we have nice morning sun in the front of the house, and good light in the back in the afternoon, until sunset--both inside, and in the garden.
But one reason our backyard is so sunny is that we don't have any large trees in our yard, nor are there too many large trees immediately surrounding us. This is a huge factor--more than the orientation of the house, IMO.
Posted by: tinarina at October 3, 2007 9:48 AM
So it sounds like there are plenty of reasons to like north-facing, south-facing, east-facing and west-facing houses! Good to know... (at least there's no huge gotcha about one of these angles)
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 9:54 AM
We have a north/south house. The front faces south, the back yard faces north. We get light in the house year round. In the winter, when the sun is more to the south, we get a lot of sunlight streaming through the front windows most of the day, into the parlor and front bedrooms. It's very bright and lovely on winter days. Our front garden is planted with a tree, bushes etc. and our bulbs come up earlier than the other side of the street due to the consistent winter sun.
As we move into the late spring and summer months, when the sun is more to the north, we get sunlight on the back of the house from from sunrise until about 10 or 10.30, then the shadow of the house slowly moves into the yard. It varies as the year goes on with less sun in the back as we approach winter.
We have a great garden with a variety of plants and trees (crape myrtle trees, budlea bushes, many large climbing roses, a wall of evergreen trees at the back fence which get sun most of the year) some hosta here and there, many perenials, climbing vines such as clymatis and wysteria, rhododendron, rose of sharon bushes and a lot more...). We have a large table on the patio in the garden and need the umbrella up to shade us from the sun in the summer until later in the afternoon when the shadow of the house moves into the back yard. So I do not agree that a north facing garden can only take shade tolerant plants. It takes a mixture of different plants, from roses and lavendar, to hosta and rhododendron, to different types of trees. With houses that are only 40 to 50 feet high, the shade from the house in the back yard during the late spring and summer is limited, with some parts of the yard getting sun almost all day.
I think having a south facing front is nice in that you get a lot of light in the front parlor in the winter which can be great, plus early spring flowers in your front garden if that matters to you.
Overall, you get light, directly or at an angle, through any north south facing house, regardless of the front/back configuration, year round, so you can't go wrong imo.
lp
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 10:54 AM
our back garden faces south and while i can grow some amazing things i find that we don't really hang out back there in the summer as it's just boiling hot. with all the sun reflecting off the house and the neighbor's it just bakes back there....looks like a need a pergola or something.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 12:44 PM
That's what I've thought too, 12:44, that I'd cook in a South-facing garden. I can't take sun very well! Hurts my skin and my eyes. I bet South gardens have to be watered all the time too b/c they get dried out more quickly.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 4:41 PM
Oh but I meant to say I love pergolas. It's a good idea. It offers a sense of privacy in your backyard too. We might get one for privacy even though we're North-facing and don't need protection from the sun.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 4:43 PM
I would not even consider a house with a north-facing garden as we are avid gardeners. There is so much less you can grow in a north facing garden, unless it's huge and thus gets light plus you'll end up with a lot more mosquitoes and bugs in a north facing garden. But it's not just me, I've never once seen a listing saying "north facing garden" but you always see them saying "south facing garden." If you want to be gardening, go south.
Posted by: Brooklynnative at October 4, 2007 12:16 PM
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