I find it funny when you see new houses built around the country...despite all the home improvement programs and increased awareness of design the houses will inevitably face the road, as if it is the most important guiding factor in a home's design. 

This house presents its gable to the road...truth be told, it couldn't care less where the road is. What it did care about was that its back faced the prevailing wind and its front faced the dawn.

With no design education our predessors often made better, more intuitive design desisions based on site, climate and light...not on a photo of a place somewhere in some glossy magazine.