How come they don't build homes with courtyards anymore?

Cause zero lotlines and maximizing profits and people have zero taste now. Anything further?

It’s because with McMansions, every possible square foot of land is used for building, to maximize the square footage of the house.

It's more common to find a forecourt on a mansion rather than a rear court. And very rare to have a pool in a rear court. Take Claredon Court in Newport. has a forecourt but no rear court. Just a terrace. Nice pool.

Can you give an example, OP?

You might find a classically inspired villa with low rear wings creating a court.

Like this?

For example the Getty Villa.

The Getty Villa is a phenomenal property.

Or a Riad in Marrakech. But the pools are small. They are lovely though.

The Versace Mansion has a walled garden, not a courtyard but it sort of feels like one.

R3, you like saying “court,” dontcha?

Exactly, R8, but usually on a larger scale. The central courtyard provides more privacy and security than most outdoor home areas.

Yes r5

Oh but "they" would be Moroccans and yes "they" still build Riads. But a pool in a courtyard is quite a rare home design in the usa. So I don't understand your opening gambit - "How come they don't build homes with courtyards anymore?" Who is they? Where?

I wish there were more U shaped homes. I'd love to design one like that but it's only within reach if you are a multimillionaire.

OP, who is "they?"

What you describe is something far out of reach of most people. So I'm sure "they" are still building these types of homes but I doubt you'll ever be invited to one, let alone own one.

Never lived with a pool. Aren't there some laws (e.g., I seem to recall pools being required to have fencing around them?) that would make this infeasible in the US?

Hey r15, I'm talking about midcentury modern ranch homes. But do go on acting snotty.

The Parent Trap house had a courtyard, didn't it?

You're an idiot, R16.

Who is "they?"

Parent Trap

for you OP

When I die I will haunt the Getty.

The Getty is based on a real villa of antiquity.

Of course The Alhambra is known for its beautiful courtyards.

There is also the insane early 20th C royal palace Shiv Niwas Palace.

All the cool mid century designs I loved as a kid — sunken living rooms, conversation pits, random in-ground jacuzzis in the main living areas, u-shaped homes with a courtyard pool — you dont see them in newer homes anymore

The Sowden House aka the Black Dahlia house has a proper courtyard with pool.

Sorry forgot the link to the Sowden House - lots of pics online.

OP isn't asking about mansions, but about relatively modest MCM homes.

I love that design, too, and zero lot lines have a lot to do with why they're no longer a thing.

^ Oh and atriums and indoor terrariums. We toured a midcentury ranch in San Clemente once that had these. So neat, like living inside a greenhouse.

What would be an "outdoor terrarium"?

[quote]What would be an "outdoor terrarium"?

A yard maybe? A forest? I have no idea.

I love courtyards.In my city theres a lovely spanish style house built in the 1920's that was having an estate sale. We walked in and there was a glorious patio with lush plants,lovely tiles and a small fountain .The best part was the 4th wall was covered by a giant wisteria . I had walked by that house a million times and never knew it had a courtyard.

They’re only practical in warm climates.

A high walled garden or courtyard can be pleasant during the day in winter. And they have microclimates. I have a friend who has a u-shaped house, facing South and Lake Geneva (Lac Leman). It's beautifully planted for interest in all seasons, and in winter there are camellias and there is even a magnificent Mimosa tree growing in the open court, well outside its climate zone.

A Courtyard is like a secret!

People want to maximize indoor square footage. Also, as mentioned, you've got to live somewhere with year-round (or at least 3 seasons) of decent weather. Or else, it's a waste.

The added cost of exterior walls as well as workable hvac systems make them more expensive.

Love them too. My mother had something called a patio home. It was behind high walls so you couldn't see the house but when you stepped through the iron gate it had a flag stone patio with a fountain a a huge ficus tree with lush planting.

OP, are you talking about Eichler-type homes?

Eichler home with a courtyard.

Don't know, OP, but here's Isabella Court in Houston:

[quote]Whom God loves, he gives a house in Seville

Johann Joseph Pock, 1726

An architect's courtyard house created in 2015 from an 1890s warehouse in Brooklyn.

Riads - Marrakech

Bradbury House, Santa Monica, 1922. I knew the family who owned it from the '80s up until a few years ago. It's stunning all the way around (love me some Spanish Revival), but it was the courtyard that really got me the first time I visited.

Fantastic house, RF45, and courtyard: those stone columns and the blue color from behind the brown balusters against the red terracotta roof tiles at the upper level; and it's just the right size, not too big nor too small, and with that stairway directly to the patio. The kitchen is dreamy, too, all that warm wood that might be overwhelming in that quantity, instead it has the perfect foil in the large blue hexagonal floor tiles. The painted vigos are nice, too.

Those huge single pane windows and doors on the ground floor are a little harsh, but not a huge complaint. The only thing I dislike that everyone else likely loves is the location. I hate beachfront property unless it's a craggy cliffside location, something with more drama than a big placid stretch of sand and then a line of blue -- once having looked past the street and the house below and the huge highway beyond that. The location is wasted on me I'm afraid, but the house is great.

I had a school friend whose parents, originally from Spain, built a large house around a central patio, but the patio was too big, and the house, and the brick ugly. It got the basic idea right, and the terracotta tile roof and floors, but otherwise it looked a bit lost in the middle of the American East Coast. It got a couple basics right but none of the details of a transplanted or modified/revived traditional Spanish patio house. Pity, because when done well, they're great, even in unlikely climates and geography.

Thanks for the link, R41. I love the concept of courtyard apartments, like the famous Los Angeles examples of 1926: the 'Villa Primavera' that played a big role in 'In a Lonely Place¨ and the 'Andalusia.' They offer both a sense of community with a great deal of privacy and an idyllic garden setting. It'ß an ideal arrangement of apartments or townhouse/vertical units, usually in a U-shape either contiguous or a small cluster of buildings. That same front courtyard U-shape is a popular configuration for low- and mid-height Chicago apartment buildings of the 1920s-1930s, still carrying some smaller measure of the charm despite their larger, less personal scale.

For me, it's the most emblematic of L.A. housing forms: a Spanish Revival courtyard house, or a Spanish Revival apartment court like these, with lush landscaping.

No private courtyard but built around a shared courtyard, here's a townhouse that sold in the Andalusia in 2019, originally the house of Arthur and Nina Zwebell who designed and furnished sever several courtyard apartment developments.

Didn't Villa Primavera get shut down and razed?

Letter-shaped houses are the best because you can often get light from at least three sides.

Here’s an H-shaped plan for a non-rich who has a little land.

I'd kill for the Rockefeller Guest House on E 52

[quote]The only thing I dislike that everyone else likely loves is the location. I hate beachfront property unless it's a craggy cliffside location, something with more drama than a big placid stretch of sand and then a line of blue -- once having looked past the street and the house below and the huge highway beyond that. The location is wasted on me I'm afraid, but the house is great.

Yes, that's all unfortunate, R46. It's been kinda swallowed by the development around it, but it must have been pretty sweet in the 1920s! PCH was a two-lane road & the neighborhood looked like this:

Fantastic house at r45. Just dreamy.

Someone on DL said those Eichler homes with courtyards are fire traps but never explained why.

R54: This article may explain the DL poster's concern.

In one case at least, the cause of the fire appears to have been old wiring, but the issue is the the ease with which fire spreads in an open plan design, and I suppose a courtyard could restrict egress in some designs.

More about open plans than the peculiarities of Eichler designs it seems

Bradbury House at R45 sustained significant damage during the 1994 Northridge quake. Huge chunks of plaster fell off the walls & ceilings, and the Southeast wall on the master suite pulled away from the rest of the structure. The owners were dedicated to its restoration (becoming experts in adobe construction), and it was at that time that it was designated a historical landmark.

Some beautiful Syrian courtyard houses.