We have neighbors close to us on our north and south sides, and great views east and west. The only windows on the north and south are very high eyebrow windows on the very top floor. I'm thrilled with that layout. :)

The house that I bought in 2010 was built in 1994 and had only one window on the side (and the other side is garage and unfinished - now finished - garage attic). The listing actually boasted lots if windows, LOL. It drove me absolutely nuts that I couldn’t see out the sides of my house and it made the house dark. I suspected they didn’t want windows on the neighbor’s side and didn’t want to pay for more windows because they are (expensive and wonderful) Marvin wood. I put in 3 windows on the neighbor’s side and a huge window when we finished the garage attic recently. I didn’t care if we’d be able to see the neighbors (they are 1.5 acre lots anyway, and partially wooded), but the houses are angled so that we can’t see into each other’s houses anyway.

So, yeah, I don’t understand the lack of side windows.

Introverts.

Introverts good, vampires bad for property values.

I can understand the budget issue, since they have a lot of windows on the front of the house. I could understand few windows, or high windows on the sides, if on a small lot, and really close neighbors on similar small lots, but this house is on almost 2 acres. A substantial part of the yard is to the east, where only one small window overlooks that side.

The house fits the site, and the vernacular--I think it would be called a modern farmhouse. I've read here, often, about cross-ventilation and having natural light from two sides in each room. I wish I'd left a note on the foundation, before they started framing, "Post your plan in the Building A Home Forum!"

At some point in history houses with few or no windows on the sides became an unnoticed fad that was perpetuated by developers and unknowing home buyers. This continues to this day when we see people with large sites posting their plans for review here on Houzz that they found after spending countless hours on the internet, and the house has one window on the side elevation and it is at the master bedroom's bathtub. If you think about it, it exposes some sad realities.

^Agree with Mark above. Most of the plans I see posted here by the public are the same or similar floorplans I see production builders build over and over in zero lot line communities. Its possible that when seeking out a plan online that they don't know the windows are missing on the sides having never (or rarely) been in a house with windows on the sides. Lots of assumptions in that phrase - they may have never been in a house built at a time with windows on all 4 sides and cross ventilation.

When I show a house with a zero lot line wall, I point it out specifically to the potential buyers and they are surprised almost 100% of the time as they didn't notice it while we were in the house. I show it to them because it's a major factor about the lot and the light in the house. There are those that don't mind the lack of windows and others, like most of us here, that do care about the lack of windows, light and cross ventilation. I think that people don't notice a lack of windows because they don't really know what to look for when seeing either a floorplan or the actual physical house. Or, it's too much to take in all at once so missing features aren't noticed as much as an undesirable feature (that is actually present) is noticed.

I am sure this has been brought up time after time on Garden Web and Houzz, but to all who are considering building a Custom Home; physical time spent on the lot where the home is to be built is the FIRST, though by all means not necessarily the most fun and exciting, step in the design process. Ideally, the future homeowner would see their property at the location of the future build site from sunrise to sunset, and at different times of the year (if possible, otherwise get sun angle and tilt angles for your location (available on the internet and in various posts on Houzz - search is your friend). When combined with other features of your property (i.e. view, proximity to other structures/homes, terrain contour, flora, and typical weather conditions for the location throughout the year, etc.), this will greatly facilitate the new home's orientation, environmental efficiency, and eventual window and door placements once these factors are integrated with your home size, room requirements and wish list by the local Architect you have interviewed and hired. Unfortunately it seems many pick from a pre-designed plan on the internet believing this will be a less costly solution than designing a home with an architect that will take all these factors into consideration and deliver the fully integrated solution. It is why so many come for help and solutions to wrong windows, no windows, or orientation (too hot, too cold, too dark) problems. Just sayin'. And no, I am not an architect.

mamagoose, we have 30 acres and since we bought in 2000, three houses have been built on land to our southeast, in a cluster about a mile down the valley. Luckily, one of the houses went up as we were planning and our wonderful architect, after the site visit, tilted the house so our east windows face fields and woods and generally we don't even see them. I have taken comfort sometimes from seeing their porch lights during bad storms but their rifle practice can get monotonous.

I'm living more in fear of a farmhouse and barns about half a mile to the southwest. It recently sold after a death and I live in fear that it will become a "wedding barn." It'd be perfect, darn it. We can't see it except for the barn cupola but I have nightmares about summers filled with "YMCA" blaring into the night.

Could that wall be a staircase, utility rooms, I wonder?

On reflection, I think it might be a production builder. Excavation work started around early September, and the exterior is already finished. That seems really fast to me. It kind of has the look of a Schumacher build.

I think maybe the room in the upstairs back is the master bedroom, with the master closet in the corner, and the back bump-out houses the master bathroom. Just a guess, because the house is so large a center staircase would make more sense. It looks as if the electrical panel and AC are on the blank wall downstairs (just noticed those yesterday), so maybe the rooms downstairs are the utility rooms.

Since no one is living there I could walk over and peek in the downstairs windows. ;) I've read stories, on this site, of new homeowners moving in and finding out that all the neighbors had already been through their homes in the construction phase.

I think it's probably just the plan that they chose or modified, but it could have also been a budget consideration. Although in my opinion a few thousand dollars in windows saved is not worth the reduction in natural light.

I am definitely in the camp of not minding windows that look at the neighbors. Our last house was set with it's long orientation only 5-10' from a side lot line. Next door there was a house also 5' from the lot line, but only half the depth. I certainly would not have sacrificed all of those east facing windows. We had bottom up shades for privacy. If anyone would have been bothered, it would have been our next door neighbor, who had all 4 of our house's bedrooms looking out over their backyard. But I don't think the people that built our neighborhood in the 1920s-40s had the needs and desires for privacy and personal space when they were in and around their homes.

Our current family room has a 6' tall by 16' wide south facing bank of window looking out at our neighbor's dining room and kitchen (this time a little further away at about 40'. If we are decent we usually leave the shades open as do they and assume that neither of us is spending an impolite too much time staring into the other's house.

Personally I would consider building a house with a big flat vinyl wall to be less considerate as a neighbor than building a house with a few more windows on the side than the current normal.

HaHa, maybe since I'm currently their view to the east, subconsciously I do feel a bit snubbed that they don't want to look in my direction. :[

I know the neighbors up and down the valley did that and totally understood. It's interesting to see a house go up!

When we were building, we camped at the house on the weekends and surprised some potential tour groups after the bars closed.