Where Front Yards Collide: Property Lines in Pictures
Some could be twins; others channel the Odd Couple. You may never look at property boundaries the same way again
Mitchell Parker
December 18, 2013
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative... More
We know our own properties. We labor over them, we clean them up and, if we have yards, we trim the hedges and plant the garden. We also know our neighbors’ properties. We jealously eye their manicured lawns or complain about them at the dinner table. But how often do we really look at where these two worlds collide?
Sacramento, California, photographer Roberta Neidigh became interested in these in-between spaces while walking through neighborhoods just outside her city’s downtown. Growing up on 100 acres of rural countryside in northern Indiana made her curious about the different ways people establish boundaries and express themselves through their landscaping in the Northern California suburbs, but the real draw for her was imagining the stories behind how the boundaries were created. “People have such different ideas, tastes and forms of expression colliding together, which adds tension that can be revealing,” she says.
Sacramento, California, photographer Roberta Neidigh became interested in these in-between spaces while walking through neighborhoods just outside her city’s downtown. Growing up on 100 acres of rural countryside in northern Indiana made her curious about the different ways people establish boundaries and express themselves through their landscaping in the Northern California suburbs, but the real draw for her was imagining the stories behind how the boundaries were created. “People have such different ideas, tastes and forms of expression colliding together, which adds tension that can be revealing,” she says.
Roberta Neidigh
So she began quietly taking photographs from sidewalks, gathering enough alluring images for a series called Property Lines, which will be on display at Photo L.A. in January 2014.
She doesn’t speak to the homeowners, preferring instead to let the intersection of two personalities expressed through various landscaping methods tell the story. “I’m more interested in imagining who they are than finding out who they actually are,” she says.
She’s drawn most to properties that are almost exclusively maintained by the homeowner. “It’s just more interesting than a perfectly landscaped property that’s been professionally designed. When a homeowner is very much in charge, you can see what they have to say about themselves,” she says.
She doesn’t speak to the homeowners, preferring instead to let the intersection of two personalities expressed through various landscaping methods tell the story. “I’m more interested in imagining who they are than finding out who they actually are,” she says.
She’s drawn most to properties that are almost exclusively maintained by the homeowner. “It’s just more interesting than a perfectly landscaped property that’s been professionally designed. When a homeowner is very much in charge, you can see what they have to say about themselves,” she says.
Roberta Neidigh
The unanswered mysteries fuel her curiosity. For example, here you can see that the concrete slab on the left appears to have been added when the tree was still standing, and the pavers had to go around it. The roots cracked part of the slab, and the tree was cut down. “Who owned that tree? Who planted it?” Neidigh asks. “Maybe the people have known each other a long time. It looks to me like someone wasn’t very happy that they had to go around the tree. … Maybe the tree died because of the concrete laid around it.”
Roberta Neidigh
Time also interests her. The neighborhoods she explores most are somewhat older, and the inhabitants are people who’ve lived there a long time. “They made these landscape decisions years ago, and now they’re elderly, still maintaining the plants, but it’s out of scale now. It’s like the plants are almost part of them.”
In this photo a towering cypress tree straddles two properties, begging the question, Who does that tree belong to? “It might be shared,” Neidigh says. “It’s kind of curious to me that they obviously talked to each other. You can create ways of being more harmonious by working together visually, but that doesn’t always happen.”
In this photo a towering cypress tree straddles two properties, begging the question, Who does that tree belong to? “It might be shared,” Neidigh says. “It’s kind of curious to me that they obviously talked to each other. You can create ways of being more harmonious by working together visually, but that doesn’t always happen.”
Roberta Neidigh
This is one of her favorites. Neidigh happened to be driving down the road one day and saw the area out of the corner of her eye. She pulled over and was fascinated by the polarity of the two properties. A homeowner with a classic car has a colorful home that sidles up to a house that’s rather plain. “These are obviously people who enjoy the visual; they have their own voice, and it’s strong,” she says. “There’s nothing beyond ordinary about the other house. I’ve tried to find this house again, but I can’t. It was just one of those perfect moments.”
Roberta Neidigh
This one makes her laugh. It’s a shed directly between two houses. The color and style would indicate that it belongs to the owner on the left, but it’s clearly encroaching into the neighbor’s property on the right. “Why would that be OK?” Neidigh says. “It’s intriguing to me.”
Roberta Neidigh
What she’s not doing in her observations and photographs is making judgments about whether the property lines are good or bad. “It’s just visually interesting to me,” she says.
Instead Neidigh seeks out these “multifaceted phenomenon” property lines because they are in the minority. “I’m looking for the ones that are the most compelling in different ways,” she says. “Some images are harmonious.”
Instead Neidigh seeks out these “multifaceted phenomenon” property lines because they are in the minority. “I’m looking for the ones that are the most compelling in different ways,” she says. “Some images are harmonious.”
Roberta Neidigh
Indeed, for some of the properties, one has to wonder if the neighbors collaborated on their shared property line. You get a sense that the neighbors here often stroll across the yards to pay a visit or borrow sugar.
Roberta Neidigh
For others you get the sense that the two homes were created miles apart, but that over time shifting tectonic plates brought them together.
Roberta Neidigh
It’s hard not to wonder what the homeowner on the right thinks while tending to this small strip of lawn and detailed hedges. Someone must walk around and enter the plot from the street or down the neighbor’s small path to cut it with a lawnmower. And what is it like to carefully trim the bright green lawn edge as it butts up against that dormant rose bed?
Roberta Neidigh
Similar trees. Similar widths. But two completely different sizes. Are the taller ones for privacy, aesthetics or both? The fence on the right is dark and tight, while the one on the left is white and open. Could this indicate that one homeowner is more private?
Roberta Neidigh
These half walls are interesting. While it’s clearly easy for anyone to step over the small wall into the neighboring yard, the structure still makes a big statement, clearly indicating whose property belongs to whom.
Show us: What does your property line look like?
Show us: What does your property line look like?
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@ Pennington Geiss - Yes we have had the conversation and even run out the door on several occasions to stop the offending dog in action and bring it back to her yard. She even came over to clean up the poop. Once. So now we just politely put the poop over the property line. All you can do with clueless people. Which she truly is. Her back yard right behind her patio is totally full of poop and I guess she doesn't care. Disgusting to me but I don't have to deal with it.
I don't want a range war and as I said we get a long well enough other than that. At some point it might come up again. I like the electric fence idea but if their unwell dog dies because of it I am responsible! I've thought about a Doberman but I have my hands full with 4 parrots and a cat. AN INDOOR CAT.
They did have an electric dog fence at one time. Partly on our property of course. Dug up by the builder. But they stopped using it anyway because they felt bad since one of their dogs is unwell. I guess I'd feel bad, too, but not as bad as letting my dogs poop everywhere. It never ceases to amaze me how irresponsible a lot of dog owners are. She doesnt leash them until AFTER they run out the door. Not sure how they haven't been hit by a car.
Well, if the invisible fence was on your property, the dog probably thinks that's his turf and where he's supposed to go.
I wonder if there's some kind of repellant that would work? Maybe one of those solar-powered motion-triggered gizmos that emit an ultrasonic sound that's painful to dogs, but humans can't hear?
I'm quite sure thats what the dog thinks. Years of coming into this yard served his owner well! Although the fence was only a few feet over the property line. The dog poops all over now. Never goes iany farther, though. These people just shouldn't have dogs. She admitted they weren't her idea; her husband brings them home then washes his hands of them. I just jope they dont get more once these have passed.
I have one of those repellers, complete waste of $$ no matter where I place it.