‘Modern farmhouses’ just became easier to build in this Twin Cities suburb

HGTV fans who call Lakeville home can rejoice.

“Modern farmhouses,” the en vogue architectural style combining sparkling white siding with jet-black accents, just became easier to build in the booming south metro suburb.

Earlier this month, elected officials made a slew of changes to the city code to invigorate future development, including nixing rules requiring builders to incorporate certain amounts of brick, stucco or stone into homes’ exteriors.

One reason for the update?

“You can’t do a full farmhouse-style design … under the code,” Community Development Director Tina Goodroad said at a recent meeting. “So this ordinance would allow that.”

City Council Member Dan Wolter said the change is intended to give developers more flexibility to build homes that will quickly sell in Lakeville, where the number of single-family houses has nearly doubled since 2000.

But modifying city code to make way for modern farmhouses also reflects the shifting tastes of suburbanites with enough money to build them. From the bungalow boom of the 1930s to the behemoth brick McMansions of the 1990s to the big-windowed and high-ceilinged abodes of today, architectural trends in Minnesota and elsewhere come and go.

What’s behind the style’s surge in popularity in the suburbs?

In 2019, an “upscale urban farmhouse” that Minneapolis-based homebuilder and remodeler Peter Crain designed in Linden Hills earned an extensive writeup in the Minnesota Star Tribune, with photos of warm-toned hardwood floors, built-in benches and a well-appointed kitchen.

Six years later, Crain said the once-trendy look has waned in popularity in the Twin Cities, with prospective homeowners these days preferring a more uniformly modern design.

But in the suburbs?

“It’s still alive and well,” he said, calling the style “aspirational.”

Those builders often modify the look to fit their clients’ budgets. In the case of modern farmhouses, that might mean installing more affordable windows instead of top-tier ones, or laying down vinyl flooring in place of hardwood.

“They’re going to simplify it, get the cost down to where they can actually sell it,” he said. Suburban developers have to “figure out how to do that same architecture but make it affordable for young families,” he added. “That’s a really hard exercise.”

Plenty of building firms are up for the challenge.

Danielle Yegge, the co-owner of a Stillwater-based custom home and remodeling business called Style and Structure, said the farmhouse look lends itself to people with wide-ranging budgets — from first-time homeowners drawn to the floorplan but unable to afford flourishes, to empty nesters eager to invest in a wraparound deck and fireplace.

“The beauty is, you can start anywhere with this style, and you can add to it,” she said, adding the concept appeals to suburbanites because the simple color palette transcends passing trends, and the homes are typically low-maintenance.

Another benefit of the houses for suburbanites? They’re easy to sell.

“People aren’t living in their homes as long as they used to, and so it’s just an easier transition,” said Kali Bray, a designer at Anchor Builders based in St. Louis Park. “If they are moving out [and] somebody else is coming in and buying the place, it’s a lot more neutral for people.”

Then there’s the cultural significance of modern farmhouses. Jean Rehkamp Larson, a Minneapolis-based architect and author of a 2006 book on modern farmhouses, said the style has endured because its elements — a symmetrical facade, simple gables and clean windows — together form an emblem of “American individualism.”

“I think there’s some unavoidably romantic notion about a farmhouse on a piece of property,” she said, noting the structure is especially suited to the Upper Midwest.