Just right for the neighborhood
Since the early part of the year, I’ve been writing about attractive and ugly buildings in Chico in my weekly column in the Enterprise-Record, “But this is Chico.” Just when I think I’ve exhausted the topic, something else comes along to catch my attention and get me started writing about it again.
Yesterday I got an anonymous letter in the mail, alerting me to an addition being made to the house at the southeast corner of Filbert and Arbutus avenues. The writer thinks it’s ugly. “You might not agree with me, but if you did, you still wouldn’t write about this one because it is a private home,” the writer asserts.
Just about every building I cited — or that readers mentioned — in my series of column is private. Most of the comments were directed toward businesses, but I have no qualms about criticizing historically or architecturally significant houses that have been badly remodeled or are threatened with ugly alterations or with being torn down. In a sense, buildings — houses or businesses — belong to the community. We have to look at them as we drive or walk through the community. People who tear down beautiful buildings or put up ugly ones have to expect some harsh comments.
My main observation about most Chico houses — and this is true of houses everywhere — is that they are neither attractive nor ugly. They are just there — to keep the weather out and keep all the stuff we collect in. They don’t add to or detract from the landscape. The house I live in is like that.
I drove by the house the letter-writer had singled out and found that I like the addition, which is still under construction. The writer criticized it by saying “You can hardly count the levels of the roofline,” but that’s one of the things I like about it. It helps the addition blend with the existing structure.
This stretch of Filbert seems to have been built mainly in the middle of the 20th century, but it has some new houses. Some of them were built on lots that had remained empty until recently, and I think two or three were put up to replace houses that had burned down. The new houses are larger than the other houses on the street. But the lots on Filbert are roomy enough to accommodate big houses.
I usually don’t respond to anonymous comments, but this one raises both “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” and density issues. This part of Filbert is one of Chico’s prize suburban streets. I think the house addition will look fine in this neighborhood.