What’s with all the black houses that have appeared in recent years? The all-black exteriors—blackened timber, black stain, or simple black paint—have become ubiquitous. Rural or urban, even old buildings are getting black-faced. Traditionally, architects avoided black facades, which not only look lugubrious but virtually eliminate shadows, which are—or were—one of the architect’s most effective tools. Modern houses tend not to have moldings and relief work, of course, so there are no shadows. And black does seem to be the modernist architect’s favorite fashion shade (Richard Rogers excepted). But fundamentally I think this phenomenon is a symptom of laziness—it’s a cheap way of standing out. Slap on a coat of Benjamin Moore’s Black Beauty and even the most pedestrian design looks striking.
On Culture and Architecture
They have forgotten why houses used to be black; in St. John’s Newfoundland, every house was black because of coal soot. When they got gas in the sixties and cleaned them up, they started painting them in all kinds of colours so that now everyone thinks that was traditional.
I like white with an occasional beige or blue. Common colors look familiar and comfortable even if they are not avant garde.
I completely agree, black or black and white, yes its lazy and all these houses end up all looking the same, no mess to show that people actually live there, often nowhere for children to play, etc etc., To paint all interiors white is lazy, the painters dont have to cut in, perhaps a real skill. Then all the trim, cabinets, some feature walls black, more laziness. We were painters/decorators for a very long time and used colour. There are thousands of extraordinary beautiful colours carefully chosen due to eg reflections from outdoors, trees, other plantings, having said that, we often mixed our own colours. Then there are hundreds of acres of black roofs on housing estates attracting often unbearable heat and subsequently, the need to for air conditioning. It is just not sustainable.apart from being very ugly. There will be huge costs to alter this trend before too long and before the next trend takes hold.
I agree, the all black house has no creativity behind it…it does not blend in with nature at all and looks like an eyesore. The new neighbors built a huge home on what used to be a beautiful pasture on my road, and it is all black. It is shockingly ugly and out of place, I have to look at it every time I leave my home. I redid the exterior of my home and choose colors to blend in with the surroundings, a metal copper colored roof, sea blue fiberglass siding, white trim, and brown textured wood shutters.