Before deciding how to situate your house on a site, the surrounding block, the neighborhood’s history and character, local codes and any off-street parking desires must be considered. Many suburban neighborhoods and rural homes have a distinctly different relationship between street and home than their urban counterparts. For example, a house in a more-rural area might be placed far away from the road; a house in a suburban neighborhood might be 20-30 feet from the street; and in more-urban settings it is common for homes to be separated from the street by only a sidewalk and a front stoop or porch. When preparing for any of these locations, the first step should be learning the requirements of your local codes and any subdivision restrictions and covenants that were filed with subdivsion of the property. 

In urban neighborhoods, it is often desirable to have the home situated close to the street. This helps to preserve the fabric and street culture of the neighborhoods, and it enables the house to take up more of the site and claim some of the space in the side or rear of the house for porches or private outdoor space. This more-dense way of arranging houses tends to provide a livelier streetfront and produce neighborhoods that encourage walking and activity on the front porch or stoop. With this close proximity to the street, there is seldom room for off-street parking, so parking traditionally occurs on the street.

In suburban neighborhoods, lots are typically larger than urban lots, and the homes and neighborhoods are designed to accommodate automobiles. It is common to see a suburban home set back from the street with room to park cars both in a covered garage and in a driveway that is off the street. The street in this model becomes an artery for access, but the home often turns its back on the street socially, and the back yard and back patios get more use by the family than the front yard.

In New Orleans

In New Orleans, information on local codes can be found under “Safety and Permits” on the city of New Orleans website http://www.cityofno.com). In most cases the front yard setback requirement is a minimum of 20 feet; however, if you are rebuilding in an existing neighborhood it is possible to build closer to the street than the setback regulations if you can show a historic or preexisting footprint or if you can prove an average front yard setback for the street. This “average front yard setback” is a number derived from adding the street-to-house distance of all of the houses on your side of the street on your block, then dividing by the number of homes. This gives you an average for your street that you can use in placing your home on your site.

Related information:

Historic footprints can be found using old Sanborn insurance maps.