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Notes -
I think you’re both right but looking at different time periods. Two story houses built on deep, narrow lots were the rule throughout much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in what were often called the “streetcar suburbs.” As the name suggests, residents originally relied primarily on public transportation and so didn’t need lots large enough to accommodate stables, carriage houses, or garages. That changed during the post-war era, when modern suburban neighborhoods with their one story houses on relatively large lots became the norm. Most newer subdivisions these days seem to contain relatively large houses on lots that are smaller than those of the 1950s but wider than those of the 1910s (though not necessarily much larger in terms of total square footage).
The wider your roads, the more the logic of efficient land use pushes you towards deep, narrow lots (in order to get as many square feet of lot per square foot of road as possible). Nathan Lewis points out that the US has had very wide roads by international standards since before the invention of the car, and therefore deeper and narrower lots for most of the late C19/early C20.
After car ownership became widespread, the US avoided the problems of wide roads and deep, narrow lots by insisting on lots which are incredibly large for the size of the house. Levittown mostly consisted of 800 sq ft houses (not counting the garage) on 6000 sq ft lots.
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