Beachside housing styles

Touring around France recently I spend time in various coastal towns. I was impressed with the quality and consistency of the local beach side residences.

Unfortunately there is less aesthetic in Australia. Beach side housing is often a 2nd (holiday) home and owners often come from different demographics. They build what they can afford with little consideration for the immediate environment and the result is often a formless collection of buildings lumped together in an ugly mess.

In France it seems to me this almost never happens, probably because both local governments and owners seem to have a sensibility not present down-under. All the houses and apartments here are in the same residential beach side street. Owners are from all parts of France. Some houses are more expensive than others. Nevertheless they all sit beside each other in harmony.

Australian beach side suburbs under local government control have generally not been able to delivery anything like this French aesthetic. (One exception might be Noosa.) More often if some aesthetic exists in coastal towns (like Red Rock, Hardys Bay or Pearl Beach) it is the result of community action. One wonders if the new planning laws that take away control from the councils will make our suburbs better or worse.

Anyway, enjoy these pictures...