Children’s picture book I read before 1995 (not sure when it was published though) about an old mansion. The mansion stood alone in a field until a suburban neighborhood packed with little nearly-identical houses sprang up. The mansion may or may not have been sentient. The house felt more and more out of place and eventually it/the owner decided to replace the old house with a new one just like all the others. All the neighbors couldn’t find their own houses anymore because they used to use the old mansion as a reference point. Eventually they convinced the old house/owner that its uniqueness was important to the neighborhood and somehow restored it.
That could be the chapter “Wheels of Progress” in Homer Price.
Hmm. No it was definitely a picture book. Thanks though!
Could it be The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton? One of my all time favorites. 🙂
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Little_House.html?id=kWALdSz6EPMC&source=kp_cover
I wish it was! Unfortunately my search is not over yet, but thank you for introducing me to The Little House! What a lovely story!