Ask any home builder and they will tell you, building on a 50-foot-wide property is always a challenge. Many new home neighborhoods are developed with 50-foot homesites to maximize value and profit as land has continued to increase in cost.
In those neighborhoods, the final product isn’t always viewed as an architectural masterpiece.
With a 50-foot-wide property in Fort Worth, the home can only be a maximum of 40 feet wide because the city requires a five-foot side setback on both sides of the property, thus leaving only 40 feet of buildable space. Most of the time the garage and garage door take up the majority of the front of the home, leaving very little opportunity for the rest of the front-facing home to be anything more than a door or maybe a small porch to give the home any distinction. Functional and cost-effective, yes, but not the most eye-catching of styles for some.
50-Foot Challenge on Lafayette Avenue
The River Crest neighborhood of Fort Worth is one of the more high-end areas of the city. Surrounding River Crest Country Club are some of the fanciest and most expensive homes in all of Cowtown. However, there are also many homesites that are only 50 feet wide in the area. This is not a neighborhood that will accept homes where the garage door is the main focal feature. It is not a neighborhood where a suburban tract home will fit in well.
In 2006 the design/build company V Fine Homes accepted the challenge of building a beautiful, architecturally inspiring home on a 50-foot homesite on Lafayette Avenue. They understood the demand from the neighborhood that the standards were high and the design needed to be elegant.
They maximized the front façade of the home by placing the front-entry garage at the back of the home, accessed through a front-drive gate. Now the focus of the home is on the stunning design and quality construction of the home instead of a garage door. In addition, the paver driveway became a private entertaining courtyard that can be accessed through the French doors of the home.
Not only can the courtyard be enjoyed from street level, but also via the cantilever balcony that runs the entire second story of the home.
Interior as Impressive as Exterior
If you thought V Fine Homes exhausted their talents and inspiration on the exterior of the home, you’d be sorely incorrect. The interior of the home on Lafayette is just as impressive as the design of the exterior. Enter into a grand room with a striking iron staircase and ceiling lined with stained wood and solid beams.
The home of 4,369 square feet has four bedrooms, three-and-one-half bathrooms, and three large living areas. Of course, the cantilevered balcony that highlights the entertaining motor courtyard can be accessed through the primary suite and the upstairs corridor.
Throughout the home are intricate details, but many can be found in the kitchen and bathrooms. Details such as the kitchen backsplash, the barrel ceiling in the corridor, and the additional plinth around the door casing that is a staple of V Fine Homes craftsmanship.
Make sure to visit this home and see just how well the home utilizes a smaller homesite in one of the more prestigious neighborhoods in all of Fort Worth.
Size isn’t everything. The key to this home is how well V Fine Homes ingeniously fit all desired features of a luxury home on a smaller parcel of land.
Jackie Prowse and Jerry Taylor of Williams Trew Real Estate have listed 4913 Lafayette Avenue for $1.525 million.
