First impressions of the legendary Seaside: compared to Kentlands and Celebration the houses are smaller, more fanciful, with wonderful colors, more follies and, of course, their towers. The houses are more vertical and the towers punctuate the rooflines, so the street widths feel quite different. Many brick roads, fine subordinate groupings around spaces and parks, the marvelous secondary circulation of paths. Cars are less well accommodated than in later developments. Because of the colors and the effective spacing, Seaside feels light in comparison with its sibling New Urbanist development down the road. Seaside is exciting, opening and relaxing. The beach is lovely as always along the Gulf coast, but there are other developments nearby that debase the Seaside idiom.
(c) David Kolb, 1 August 2001