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In Australia and Great Britain, they're known as "Semi-Detached" houses...

...and here in the US, they're called "Duplexes".

The gate on the 'ugly' half of the duplex looks like it would be a complete pain to open and shut

i think this was done by some1 who hates their neighbour, they probably once said how much they hate black houses or something, and then dinged their car, so revenge took hold. unless a devil lives in 1 and an angel in another, and this neighbourhood is actually some1s subconscious.

i'm currently living in a duplex (in the US). it's a rental, but i'm renting from my father while i'm in grad school... and in just the three weeks i've lived here, we've got one of those mismatched situations. the exterior isn't so noticeable (not done much work yet, but when i do i'm going to deal with the whole yard & facade), but the insides are different worlds.

Kind of reminds me of South Philadelphia, Pa.

I really hate it when AT posts pictures of peoples houses without their permission, then proceeds to make fun of them. One persons "less attractive" house is another's treasure.

Two Face, the comic character (I assume you mean him since you are referring to The Thing in the same line), is one man whose visage appears to be that of two different men fused together. It makes no sense to refer to the house as "Two Face" and then pair it with another character. Stop butchering my childhood memories with your mean spirited prose making fun of other's houses.

Aw, petro, is that ugly house yours?

Geez, get over it people. The exterior of those houses are public, anyone can see them and if they don't want to keep up w/ the Joneses next door, then they leave themselves open to criticism. That's like saying it's mean to compare a Walmart desk w/ a CB2 desk and criticize the lower quality one (and I know some of y'all love to do that).

Is the darker house black? I thought it looked navy blue, but maybe it's just the lighting. I think it looks amazing! So much newer and fun and modern. If I was their neighbor I'd jump on the bandwagon and paint my place in a contrasting yet complementary color.

I think that stone in the last pic is gorgeous! I love how it's all laid out and the mixture of colors and shapes, it gives it so much texture. I've always really loved stone houses, there's so much beauty to them.

You see so much of this around where I live in inner Melbourne, it has always made me wonder what each side thinks

Wow TrueTex, glib much? If I were your neighbor, I'd move.

RQinGeorgia - she meant Two Face to represent the duplex that is black on one half and beige on the other. The Thing was a reference to the separate stone fronted house in the other picture.

I would be sad to be attached to a house where the neighbor was not interested in some small bit of curb appeal. I think the black looks nice. Hopefully the other half will see the improvement and jump on the sprucing-up bandwagon.

I live in a duplex, or "villa" as my real estate agent called it, and my neighbor and I are gonna try to come up with something we both like. I really hope we can, if not, well, I guess it'll just be mismatched.

The house on the left is challenging the one on the right to a design dual. Unguard!

Finding things that you already think are ugly or ridiculous and not inspiring and informative is one of my least favorite "tricks" the AT bloggers pull on a routine basis. Either that or quite a few don't have a lot of taste, and continue to express a profound appreciation for things that are cool on the merit of just being so tacky that they aren't tacky any more. (Hint: they're still really tacky).

Also, I closed the italics tag, or I hope it worked.

I've never seen this "two faced" approach to duplex living. I'll be buying one with a friend this year and I KNOW she's not as interested in design as I am -- it's nice to know I have options! I'd love to see more examples of yin/yang exteriors.