Houses Designed for Two Families

On Family Scholar's Blog, Elizabeth Marquardt posted about an interesting article regarding how unmarried siblings are often living together to save on expenses and how this had advantages compared to having an unrelated roommate.

In a comment she remarked:

Come to think of it, recently in the NYT house and home section, I think, there was a story about two brothers and their wives buying an old place in Brooklyn, rehabbing it and living in it together. One wife was Italian, the other from somewhere in Asia (forgive me, I forget where) and their wives commented that this seemed like a very natural thing to do, given their experience of extended families. One of the couples had a toddler and I was thinking what a dream childhood that would be, growing up in a big old house with your mom, dad, aunt, and uncle — and probably some more siblings and cousins along the way.

I responded with a comment of my own:

Elizabeth Marquardt,

I'm glad you mentioned the two brothers and their wives sharing the same house. How nice for the children to have an aunt and uncle in addition to their parents in the house.

Since this came up in a different context a few months ago, I've been considering the marketability of new homes with two master bedroom suites. The common living, dining and kitchen areas would be in between and the children's bedrooms would be upstairs.

In working with couples, I find they are often in disagreement over how do to something and I'm able to work out a third option which will satisfy both.

So, we have same sex couples who want to express the normal human desire to have children and we have those who remind us of the advantages to the child in being raised by hsr biological father and mother.

What about having a house where the gay couple is in one master bedroom, the lesbian in the other, and the children would be the result of a donation from the former to the latter? The children would be raised by their biological father and mother who are married, just not to each other.

Concerning the two brothers and their wives, you said, "... I was thinking what a dream childhood that would be..." in reference to there being four adults at home. Would my suggested arrangement not have the same advantages you dream about?

So far, she has not provided an answer.