Triple-decker vs Three-decker

[czsz]

^ Missing a historic opportunity to let these eyesores disappear...

Re: "do other major cities have them?" - according to at least one architectural history professor whose quote I read somewhere, the triple-decker was exported by migrants from New England to the Upper Midwest and a variation forms most of the housing stock in Great Lakes cities like Buffalo, Milwaukee, and Chicago, where it's referred to as a "three flat".

If you ask me, there's a strong similarity in many of the tall Victorian houses in SF, too, though I can't confirm that they have the same progeny.

Meanwhile, the mid-Atlantic rowhouse took a different trajectory, spreading along the Ohio Valley to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis...

[datadyne007]

I've never used three-decker, always triple-decker and double-decker growing up in SE MA (NB/Taunton).

[vanshnookenraggen]

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said the housing units are precious, not only for their architectural value, but also because building codes and zoning laws prevent new three-decker houses from being built.

So... change the laws, genius!

[statler]

I'm assuming that at least some of that is ADA and fire code.

The first he can't touch and changing the second is politically unfeasible.

[Ron Newman]

I don't think ADA applies to privately-built three-family (or fewer) houses.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Yeah, it has to be fire code. Still you could design them to be safer and adjust the fire code as well.

[Ron Newman]

I've heard of some three-deckers being built in 'modern' times - for example, to replace some that were destroyed by a plane crash in Dorchester a couple of decades ago.

[czsz]

Originally Posted by vanshnookenraggen

Yeah, it has to be fire code. Still you could design them to be safer and adjust the fire code as well.

Indeed. Build them in brick and they'll look 300x less shitty to boot!

[vanshnookenraggen]

Then you'd have a row house... genius!

[JohnAKeith]

I think he just made that up, it's that simple.

I don't know about three deckers, but I've seen new four and six-unit buildings in Dorchester, etc. So, yeah, maybe three unit buildings can't be built, but I'm skeptical.

A client was going to buy in a four-unit complex off Pleasant Street in DOT. They had to include a lot of fire protection stuff (hardwired smoke alarms, etc.), of course.

The amazing / dumb thing was that, at least according to the developer, they had to include a handicapped ramp to the first floor unit - even though there was no way of knowing that someone would buy the unit who needed it. And, there was no elevator in the building so the only unit that could possibly have been bought would be the first floor unit.

[Ron Newman]

Was there any public subsidy to that development? If so, it might have had ADA requirements that a purely private development doesn't.

[tobyjug]

Don't call it either. Called "Irish Battleship".

[gooseberry]

I've only ever heard triple decker, but I've only lived here 15 years, so I'm a tourist in locaL terms.

[HenryAlan]

Originally Posted by vanshnookenraggen

So... change the laws, genius!

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! Although in today's city of suburban oriented NIMBYs, effecting this type of change to the zoning code would likely prove difficult.

[Hutchison]

Having done some ADA work, it only becomes applicable in two situations:

(1) Title III applies to places of public accommodation (anywhere that the public is invited to go essentially - stores, lodgings, restaurants, etc.), but not to private clubs/buildings that are not open to the public; and

(2) Title II applies to all public entities through which it also applies to all state and local public housing, housing assistance, and housing referrals (as John mentioned above)

Also I always knew em as "triple-deckahmen"

[JonFrum]

I grew up in Boston, and neither term bothers me. It's not like you'll find a Rosetta Stone somewhere with the 'correct' term carved into it. And I'm sure that if you asked people who grew up in Brockton and Fitchburg and any random mill town, you'd get different answers.


And by the way - when you write 'deckah,' you're sticking a 'Kick me, I'm a tourist' sign on your ass. Don't be the guy walking around in sandals and white socks - it's not cool. If you grew up here, it's the way you talk, and you don't notice it. If you didn't grow up here, have some respect. Presumably, if you went to live in Edinburgh or Melbourne, you wouldn't transliterate the local accent into goofy-isms. Don't do it here.

[davem]

I think the main thing that's not up to code is that most of them were built with chimney-effect fire trap balloon framing. Which would never happen today so not a big deal. The small winder back stairs are also against modern fire codes, but once again this could be mitigated by a larger, or exterior staircase. Not really sure what mumbles is mumbling about.

As for triple deckers outside of NE, I haven't actually been inside them but from the outside some of the buildings in Newburgh, NY appear to be triple deckers

http://g.co/maps/m3rzb

[Hutchison]

Originally Posted by JonFrum

And by the way - when you write 'deckah,' you're sticking a 'Kick me, I'm a tourist' sign on your ass. Don't be the guy walking around in sandals and white socks - it's not cool. If you grew up here, it's the way you talk, and you don't notice it. If you didn't grow up here, have some respect. Presumably, if you went to live in Edinburgh or Melbourne, you wouldn't transliterate the local accent into goofy-isms. Don't do it here.

Whatever, no offense was intended. Maybe you too should show a little respect and cool it with the self-righteousness and indignation. I bet it pisses you off every time Whighlander writes Hahvad too.

[HenryAlan]

Originally Posted by Hutchison

I bet it pisses you off every time Whighlander writes Hahvad too.

If that's all that pisses him off about a Whighlander post, then Westie needs to work on his delivery.

[bostonbred]

Originally Posted by JonFrum

Presumably, if you went to live in Edinburgh or Melbourne, you wouldn't transliterate the local accent into goofy-isms.

AH nairly PISHED maisef LARFIN!!!. DiNNae read tha "Trainspotting" SHITEbuk? Deeyoo NOken? Ah diNNay thoat yA did!!!!

So