The McLoft: Urban Lofts Find Their Way To The Suburbs

"Coming to a subdivision near you: the McLoft. Amid ranch houses and McMansions, developers are putting up buildings that look like they're out of downtown Manhattan or Chicago. Unlike urban lofts, which started out as last-resort housing for arty types, these condos can be some of the priciest housing in suburbia. Instead of stepping out into sidewalks where vendors peddle gyro sandwiches and counterfeit handbags, residents are just minutes from mountain-bike trails or the mall. And while city lofts are known for creaky freight elevators and exposed ventilation ducts, their country cousins come with floating faucets, bidets and designer kitchens.

...Lofts are just the latest in a transformation in suburban living that has been accelerating in recent years, according to Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Miami. Back in the 1930s, small towns on the fringes of cities were built house by house, and store by store, by owners who adapted them to their needs. In this front-porch world, residents knew one another and could often walk to shops and schools. The post-World War II boom brought planned communities like Levittown, which gave way to commuter towns and cul-de-sacs of the 1960s and, more recently, fortress-like McMansions."