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Wednesday, March 24, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Mr. Sun: I have visited your city over the past 25 years, and now that my husband and I are retired we are considering moving to Las Vegas. When we drive the streets all we see are block walls. Why do all the houses have block walls around their property? Is it for safety reasons?
•••
It’s for many reasons, really — including the city’s layout, land costs, traffic and transience.
In the early 1960s, Las Vegas neighborhoods looked much like the rest of the country, according to Robert Fielden, an urban planner who arrived here that decade. If there were fences, they were low, chain-link affairs to keep dogs corralled.
The transformation of the Las Vegas neighborhoods into a small walled city began in the early 1970s. As Fielden recalls, new developments in Spring Valley were the first to use block walls as an architectural signature.
But it was more than developers’ copycat tendencies that drove their spread.
“The way we laid out our city with subdivisions bordering main streets ... means many houses back up to busy streets,” said David Shield, director of the construction management program at UNLV.
A block wall cuts the noise.
Higher land costs also indirectly contributed to it.
“We ended up with a situation where we ... put large houses on small lots,” said Neil Opfer, an associate professor of construction management at UNLV. “With that, how do you convey that you have a bit of privacy? Block walls give people a little bit of privacy for the bit of side yard and back yard that they do have.”
As for why masonry block is used? The experts say it’s cheap and withstands the desert climate better than wood.
The resulting valley streetscape — block wall, sidewalk, street — has been criticized as monotonous, unwelcoming to pedestrians and antithetical to community.
“This is one of the things that we have built into the community that has kept us from developing a sense of community,” Fielden said.
My stepdaughter asks me the same question all the time. She is not use to that, being from Pennsylvania. I moved to Spring Valley when it was first built in 1972. Our pool was on the side of the house next to the street as we lived in the corner house. Without the block wall there, everybody would drive by and see right in our pool. Not like back east where I had five acres and the woods behind our house. Privacy would be the big thing here.
Our first home in Las Vegas, my father purchased in 1972 near the airport. None of the tract homes came with a fence (then).
Then people started installing swimming pools.
With the pools came a desire for privacy.
That more than anything started the block walls.
That and a desire to reflect some of the rode noise.
The real reason for the brick modular "prison-cell" design was to levy graffiti removal fees upon property owners.
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road (no coffee yet)
Because people are dumb and want to live in "gated communities" because they think it makes them safer. Look for houses in the old "paradise" neighborhoods. it's not nearly as bad.
"Higher land costs" is laughable. More like unchecked developer GREED!
We moved here in Sept. from Lawn Guyland NY. We now live in Silverado Ranch. It's like living in SIM City! You have a sqauare mile more or less of houses surrounded by walls and on every major corner there's a shopping center. And every shopping center has at least one dental office. Sheesh! :)
Good fences make for good neighbors
This is not limited to LV. I lived in NM for awhile. Santa Fe and Albuquerque have similar designs.
The block yard walls, or in some Southwestern communities, wood fencing, is an extension of the roofless inner courtyard known as a patio in Spanish or Spanish-American architecture.
I hate the block walls - find the residential area where there are a lot of law offices south of downtown and east of the federal building to be a pleasant area. Ok, I understand that other southwest communities have these prison walls - maybe they are all uninhabitable! Yes, Las Vegas has become a refuge for many eastern dentists. It is rumored that there are too many of them and that it fosters a less than ideal dental care situation. Go figure - excess in Las Vegas? Would have never thought it was possible.
If you don't like the block walls move. If things were so good where you came from move back.If you like uninvited people on your property that is your problem. If you actually like the thought of privacy and safety then that is alright too. Always somebody telling someone else how to live.
Those wonderful neighborhoods downtown that are now attorney's offices may look different and nice during the day, but drive through those neighborhoods at night and picture yourself sitting in your living room watching television while the criminal element watches you through your windows.
My wife and i never did like the wall look.
Stumbled on inspirada in henderson....actually bought our retiremant house.
no walls, city feel! (we live right outside nyc)
we like it alot
Block wall fences started in California and spread to Las Vegas. They allow the feeling of privacy even in a small area.
Similar fences date back to the 1700 and 1800s in England, especially in row house communities.
In addition, to privacy, they reduce noise, limit vermin vector routes, and add security if they are high enough.
I prefer homes with block walls for a bit of privacy, my families homes in Spring Valley and the NW have block walls. I live in a gated community and I like a bit of privacy living in a gated community. It is all about preferences in life. To all those who wish not to live in gated communities or in homes with block walls goodluck, there are homes out there without block walls or not in a gated community.
I rather like the block walls. It gives the communities a rather clean look.
Great idea.
what would you rather have?..chain link fences? They look like trash. I'm not a big fan of block walls, but they are better than chain link.
Vegas is and will be a transient city. It's the nature. Every malcontent or ostracized individual somehow comes to Vegas for a short period, sets up shop and then a few months later is gone. It's the excitement of Vegas that draws them. Everyone back home hears the stories and everyone wants to give it a try.
Block walls are not the most desirable, but with some of these people coming here you want a wall.
my blocked wall keep me safe from drunk drivers.
Personally.. I enjoy walking out to my backyard in the morning and drinking my coffee reading the newspaper in my boxers and not worrying about anybody seeing me.
Backyard Privacy is a luxury that should not be taken for granted...
Sorry you Peeves & Perverts can't see me around my pool...
The lack of community statement by Mr. Fielden should be more directed towards Las Vegas City Planners that have allowed Strip Malls / Casinos to be the dominant gathering places.
Of course.. if he was a true Urban Planner he would understand this from studying highly successful "communities" in Chicago that have their own urban style core with their own distinct shopping / restaurant areas where residents gather when they want to be social.
Instead... he would rather direct the failure of creating a sense of community for the majority of Las Vegas on block walls around a neighborhood.
Funny..
Rubber stamp another lame Strip Mall or pour more money downtown...
I like the block walls. Here we have wood fences. Of course with so much rain the fences sport green mold and such. There the walls would stay cleaner looking and last much longer.
From the 60s up to the 90s most brick walls were built by Firemen that had a second job, and needed to make more money to support their family of 10. Firemen didn't make over $65.000.00 back in those days, they all had second jobs. Mid 90s they discovered that illegal Mexicans could do the job better, and the Rescue service became into being. Boy they hit a goldmine and have continued making the huge paycheck they now receive. Anybody that has lived in Vegas during that time knows the history of block walls in Vegas.
If you go to the older North Las Vegas areas around Civic Center and Lake mead. All those houses have chain link around them, or they have wooden fences. Well; some of them do the ones that haven't fallen down and not repaired. But walls are more permanent less maintenance except for painting over graffiti or just painting them a different color. Some backyards I have been in others back yards, some have painted some really nice murals on there walls especially around there pools etc. But no matter what the reason is. If you can get your neighbors to sign off on it tear them down and put something else up, nothing is really permanent in this world or ours.
I was told that there is another, primary reason for block walls: to cut down on the wind here in this windy city. For that reason alone, I think block walls work.
The block walls last through the extreme heat and don't break down like wood and other materials. Also, I don't want people looking into my backyard when we're swimming or hanging out. I love the block walls!
Also, pets don't escape them.
I grew up in Las Vegas & when I visit places that have wood fences or (gasp) no fences, I think it's weird ............... so I guess it's all really just what you grew up with.
Besides - you can walk on cinder block fences & as a kid that is great fun!
You have no idea what a small lot with a large house is until you go to Monmouth County in Centeral New Jersey. They build on a 1/4-1/3 acre with homes that are anywhere from 6,000 sf - 10,000 sf and sell in the millions of dollars because everyone wants to live there. As to no sense of community - that is correct. I have lived in my home in Spring Valley for 10 years, having the same neighbors and do not know the first or last name of any person around me. Not friendly, not community minded, not inviting, not happy! At least a fence gives you a false security, a bit of privacy and you know your neighbors. This town as far as friendly SUCKS.
Oops - for got something in my original post. My walls are gone around my home - couldn't stand them! When the walls were still standing was when our home was robbed. Really Secure. If someone is "looking" into my windows at night good luck to them and hope they get an eye full. Shame on you if you don't close your curtains!
And the alternative is chain link fences. How about a junked Camaro in the middle of the front yard too? Grease stains from the oil changes in the driveway, barefoot kids running all over the place. Convert the garage into a beauty parlor too. If you don't like the block walls, move back to wherever you came from.
I enjoy my privacy. Three cheers for block walls.
Keeps da bullets from gangsta guns from hitting my dog and kids.
I grew up in Las Vegas and now live in suburban Virginia. You have no idea how much I miss block walls. My house currently has no fence, so I have neighborhood kids running through my backyard all of the time. Even when I put a wood fence in I won't get nearly as much privacy as I would with a block wall.