Done right, attached single-family homes can be every bit as attractive as their detached brethren, giving owners a similar sense of privacy and pride. By the mid-1990s, visionary architects and builder/developers married tightening land availability and use regulations with innovative exterior architecture and planning schemes that broke the traditional row-house mold and ushered in offset elevations, a mix of materials and forms, angled entries, and dramatic color.

Project: Trovare, Newport Coast, Calif.; Entrant/ Architect/Land planner: Scheurer Architects, Newport Beach, Calif.; Builder: Taylor Woodrow Homes, Laguna Beach, Calif.

URBAN CHIC: In addition to simply exemplifying great attached design, Johnson Street Townhomes (below) in the revitalized Pearl District of downtown Portland, Ore., the Project of the Year in 2000, targeted an emerging market of empty-nesters, singles, and childless couples looking to get in on the fun of new urban vibrancy. The low-density, 13-unit infill project sits smack-dab in an eclectic, mixed-use redevelopment, with an exterior design reminiscent of the district's industrial roots.
URBAN CHIC: In addition to simply exemplifying great attached design, Johnson Street Townhomes (below) in the revitalized Pearl District of downtown Portland, Ore., the Project of the Year in 2000, targeted an emerging market of empty-nesters, singles, and childless couples looking to get in on the fun of new urban vibrancy. The low-density, 13-unit infill project sits smack-dab in an eclectic, mixed-use redevelopment, with an exterior design reminiscent of the district's industrial roots.

Project: Johnson Street Townhomes, Portland, Ore.; Entrant/Architect: Mithun Architects + Designers + Planners, Seattle; Builders: OTKM Construction, Portland; Hoyt Street Properties, Portland

VILLAGE VOICE: Winner of a grand award in 1994 for its overall community design of 168 condo units within 13 clusters on a hilly parcel, Trovare (above) in Newport Coast, Calif., played with traditional Spanish forms to create memorable attached homes that sold at a pace of 17 a month.
VILLAGE VOICE: Winner of a grand award in 1994 for its overall community design of 168 condo units within 13 clusters on a hilly parcel, Trovare (above) in Newport Coast, Calif., played with traditional Spanish forms to create memorable attached homes that sold at a pace of 17 a month.

Learn more about markets featured in this article: Portland, OR.