Architecture 🏛 Split level houses: why?

[Planit]

A few split levels in our neighborhood & they generally work because of the topo. These are just much more appealing than the 'split foyer' house that are built around here as a cheap alternative.

Split level

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Split foyer

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[luckless pedestrian]

A few split levels in our neighborhood & they generally work because of the topo. These are just much more appealing than the 'split foyer' house that are built around here as a cheap alternative.

Split level

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Split foyer

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OT: is that guy, um, just looking at his marigolds or?

 

[SlaveToTheGrind]

I was told splits can give you similar square footage without the need for a similar number of roof trusses of a traditional rambler which are a large expense.

 

[Gedunker]

I own a split level. It is only 4 risers to the bedroom level from the living room, but has a full basement under the bedrooms, while a finished crawl space under the living space. At just 1500 sq. ft., it is extremely efficient as I only have a small hallway serving the three BR and bath. (Master has an en suite.) I like it.

 

[DVD]

I prefer the ranch I live in now, but I lived in two split levels.

One I liked, it was entry, kitchen, living room, dining room, garage on the ground level then a half flight down to a family room and guest room and a half flight up to all the bedrooms.

One I hated (Kansas), garage, family room, bedroom on the ground floor with no door other than garage. Up a half flight to the front door and up a half flight to the rest of the house. It should have just been a two story, but it just wasn't designed well.

 

[mendelman]

One I hated (Kansas), garage, family room, bedroom on the ground floor with no door other than garage. Up a half flight to the front door and up a half flight to the rest of the house. It should have just been a two story, but it just wasn't designed well.

DVD installing 'shutters':

 

[UrbanUnPlanner]

I personally don't like split-level designs because horizontal control assemblies are harder to build than vertical ones. In particular, having finished space over the garage puts a lot of pressure on the fire, smoke, air, and heat control abilities of the garage-house horizontal assembly; screwups here generally manifest themselves as seemingly unresolvable comfort issues in the rooms over the garage, but in the worst case, can be the difference between a relatively humdrum one-alarm garage fire and a multi-casualty, multi-alarm blaze.

 

[Dan]

I personally don't like split-level designs because horizontal control assemblies are harder to build than vertical ones. In particular, having finished space over the garage puts a lot of pressure on the fire, smoke, air, and heat control abilities of the garage-house horizontal assembly; screwups here generally manifest themselves as seemingly unresolvable comfort issues in the rooms over the garage, but in the worst case, can be the difference between a relatively humdrum one-alarm garage fire and a multi-casualty, multi-alarm blaze.

Do you think there would be any difference between the horizontal control assemblies in a split level, versus ... oh, a Colonial or some other two-story style where there's often living space above the garage? (Our house is a late Cedar Contemporary / reverse Saltbox hybrid, with the master bedroom over the garage.)

 

[estromberg]

Our house is a split level. On the ground floor is side loaded garage, eat in kitchen and living room. Up 6 steps to 3 bedrooms (2 large and 1 small) and bathroom. Down 6 steps from the main floor is a garden apartment style master bedroom (underneath upstairs bedroom), down 6 more steps is the lower basement (underneath kitchen and living room) which is half finished and half utilities. There is a large closet that provides separation between the kitchen and living room and additionally provides roof access for utility chimneys (all of which are no longer needed, finally). We are redoing our kitchen this summer and that closet will be going away. We have hated this closet since we bought the house and have had every intention of removing it and creating an open concept space. The closet will be replaced by a kitchen island as the kitchen sorely lacks counter space.

I like our house, but in reality, we bought it for the property, not the house. We much prefer to spend all of our time outside so that was our primary consideration.

 

[mendelman]

Our house is a split level. On the ground floor is side loaded garage, eat in kitchen and living room. Up 6 steps to 3 bedrooms (2 large and 1 small) and bathroom. Down 6 steps from the main floor is a garden apartment style master bedroom (underneath upstairs bedroom), down 6 more steps is the lower basement (underneath kitchen and living room) which is half finished and half utilities. There is a large closet that provides separation between the kitchen and living room and additionally provides roof access for utility chimneys (all of which are no longer needed, finally). We are redoing our kitchen this summer and that closet will be going away. We have hated this closet since we bought the house and have had every intention of removing it and creating an open concept space. The closet will be replaced by a kitchen island as the kitchen sorely lacks counter space.

I like our house, but in reality, we bought it for the property, not the house. We much prefer to spend all of our time outside so that was our primary consideration.

View attachment 56736

That's the 'size' we'd accept for a quad level right now.

But I want as little yard to have to mow as possible and easy walking distance to our high school.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

Growing up, there was a neighborhood near my high school with a lot of tiny split levels and raised-ranch houses. They all felt somewhat claustrophobic and I hated visiting friends in those houses. It probably didn't help that this particular neighborhood wasn't known for the most high quality construction in the area and these were generally pretty cheap houses. I remember driving through there 5 or 6 years ago for the first time in close to 20 years and seeing how decrepit most of those remaining houses look nowadays. It appeared that many had been sold and torn down in favor of equally cheap looking colonials.

Fast forward to when my wife and I were looking at houses in 2009... We told our realtor we were only interested in ranches or colonials and after looking at a few she said that a very nice tri-level had come on the market. She knew that wasn't a style we were interested in but it was in a desirable neighborhood, had a large lot, and was well maintained so we took a look. We discovered that the split levels in the area we were looking at were a different world from what I was used to growing up. Most were very large and sprawling, wide open, and had high ceilings throughout giving them a very open feel. We ended up looking at quite a few of them. The ones that appealed to us were usually on sloping lots so they generally one side of the house would have access to the outside and full sized windows looking out the back while the lower level on the street-facing side would have garden-level windows.

We ended up buying a ranch house but over the years there are two of those split levels that I've always sort of regretted not putting in an offer on.

FWIW, our neighborhood was laid out in the mid '50s. Originally, there was a local covenant that prohibited split level and 2-story houses in the neighborhood until about 1965. At that point the covenant was changed to allow split levels, but still no 2-story houses, so there were a few split levels built on the few remaining lots scattered around the neighborhood.

It's not uncommon in this area to find some 5,000+ sf split levels that now go for a million dollars, especially the ones that have some MCM or contemporary elements to their design. There is one street in particular near me that has quite a few very nice split level homes.

 

[SlaveToTheGrind]

A few split levels in our neighborhood & they generally work because of the topo. These are just much more appealing than the 'split foyer' house that are built around here as a cheap alternative.

Split foyer

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First house I built was a split foyer - once inside the front door you either go up or down. Up was probably 8 steps and down was a few less. Bad design, yes, but affordable in 1999 on a Planner's salary. Lot was $25k and house with what we changed (not much) was $77k. Lot was 70' x 100' and home was 1050 finished, 1450 total on a 24' x 40' footprint. I finished the basement which was a small bedroom and small TV room a year later and left laundry room unfinished. Drove by last fall and the latest owner was outside; stopped to talk to him. House has been trashed . This picture was 10 years ago and I see the then owners did not do much yard work. Worse shape now. My FIL built the porch railing.

 

[mendelman]

I will be viewing a tri-level (with detached 2-car garage tomorrow.

Has this form:

The nice thing is this house is effectively across the street from the house we're renting right now.

 

[estromberg]

I will be viewing a tri-level (with detached 2-car garage tomorrow.

Has this form:

The nice thing is this house is effectively across the street from the house we're renting right now.

This looks like it is the same size as ours.

 

[mendelman]

This looks like it is the same size as ours.

That pic isn't the actual house, but simply that form of tri-level split.

 

[UrbanUnPlanner]

Do you think there would be any difference between the horizontal control assemblies in a split level, versus ... oh, a Colonial or some other two-story style where there's often living space above the garage? (Our house is a late Cedar Contemporary / reverse Saltbox hybrid, with the master bedroom over the garage.)

That's a good point -- what I'm describing isn't a problem that's necessarily unique to split-level houses, simply endemic to the style in a way that's not quite as definitionally true for most two-story styles, since the latter developed pre-motorcar.

 

[RandomPlanner]

I still despise them, although at the end of our housing search, when I'd already looked at 1000 homes, we did make an offer on one that wasn't awful.

I also grew up in a raised ranch (what others might call a bilevel) as did a bff growing up so I'm very familiar. In my parents' home, they put the kitchen downstairs with a family room and bedroom so it was the main guest/ daytime living space. Upstairs are the formal living room, sunroom, library, and additional bedrooms.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

...It's not uncommon in this area to find some 5,000+ sf split levels that now go for a million dollars, especially the ones that have some MCM or contemporary elements to their design. There is one street in particular near me that has quite a few very nice split level homes.

And one of those houses on that street actually popped up on the market this week. It sold about 2 years ago and underwent an extensive remodel.

I think they improved the exterior, especially the curb appeal but they really sterilized a lot of the original 1950s appeal, especially the flooring. I really wish I could have convinced my wife that we should have taken a look at it when it was on the market a few years ago.

Previous exterior:

Updated exterior:

Previous (original?) Exterior:

You can click through to the Zillow listing for the updated, boring photos.

I actually mentioned this house here in the MCM thread when it was on the market in '19 - '20. IIRC, @Maister was a fan.

 

[Maister]

And one of those houses on that street actually popped up on the market this week. It sold about 2 years ago and underwent an extensive remodel.

I think they improved the exterior, especially the curb appeal but they really sterilized a lot of the original 1950s appeal, especially the flooring. I really wish I could have convinced my wife that we should have taken a look at it when it was on the market a few years ago.

Previous exterior:

Updated exterior:
View attachment 56773

Previous (original?) Exterior:

You can click through to the Zillow listing for the updated, boring photos.

I actually mentioned this house here in the MCM thread when it was on the market in '19 - '20. IIRC, @Maister was a fan.

I do indeed recall salivating over that interior. How sad they 'updated' it.

 

[mendelman]

I will be viewing a tri-level (with detached 2-car garage tomorrow.

We viewed the house yesterday and unfortunately it's slightly too small for our needs right now in our family's life.

If there was about 200 more sqft inside it would have been OK.

I do indeed recall salivating over that interior. How sad they 'updated' it.

Agree, but it's interesting that they didn't redo that PINK bathroom.

 

[estromberg]

Our house is a split level. On the ground floor is side loaded garage, eat in kitchen and living room. Up 6 steps to 3 bedrooms (2 large and 1 small) and bathroom. Down 6 steps from the main floor is a garden apartment style master bedroom (underneath upstairs bedroom), down 6 more steps is the lower basement (underneath kitchen and living room) which is half finished and half utilities. There is a large closet that provides separation between the kitchen and living room and additionally provides roof access for utility chimneys (all of which are no longer needed, finally). We are redoing our kitchen this summer and that closet will be going away. We have hated this closet since we bought the house and have had every intention of removing it and creating an open concept space. The closet will be replaced by a kitchen island as the kitchen sorely lacks counter space.

I like our house, but in reality, we bought it for the property, not the house. We much prefer to spend all of our time outside so that was our primary consideration.

View attachment 56736

An update. Over the weekend, I took out the closet to start preparing for our kitchen remodel. The wall the TV is on will be coming out as well, making one large open concept for the entire main level. Really opened things up, looking forward to regaining the wasted space of the "hallway" to the front door. The black tape on the floor is the location of the island.

Before:

After:

 

[Dan]

I have a better picture of it at home, but for now, Google Streetview will have to suffice. In the suburban neighborhood that my parents moved to after I left the nest, there's one split level house I always admired when I walked or drove by. I think it's because it seems a bit out of place; a bit of the San Fernando Valley in upstate New York.

A typical split level house in western New York will have the garage in the two story portion of the house, like this. (This is also a good example of 1960s-era Italian-American builder vernacular architecture in the region; pink face brick, some arched fenestration, hip roof with a shallow pitch and wide overhangs. Bonus features: faux shutters with class.)

Late 1970s ecosplit shed.

A nice, basic Cheektosplit. The shutters around the bay window ...

 

[mendelman]

I have a better picture of it at home, but for now, Google Streetview will have to suffice. In the suburban neighborhood that my parents moved to after I left the nest, there's one split level house I always admired when I walked or drove by. I think it's because it seems a bit out of place; a bit of the San Fernando Valley in upstate New York.

View attachment 57378

We have almost this exact model design all over my immediate neighborhood (and the suburb in general). They're actually pretty decent especially when they have the full basement fourth level.

 

[Sconnie Scott]

After very recently researching upright-and-wing design (late 1800's), I wonder if the majority of these 'splits' are intending to evoke that kind of late 19th Century Americana vernacular architecture? A 'two-story' primary façade with the bedrooms and 'private' spaces combined with the (typically) single-story perpendicular 'wing' with the common/public spaces...? The referenced database suggests this style reappeared 100 years later with the suburban housing designs of the 1980's and beyond. Modern construction techniques (emphasizing reduced costs and fast builds) seem to make this make sense. Not a flawless connection, but one worth considering...