Redbud and dogwood are good choices. Make sure you look at Cornus kousa as well as C. florida. Other possibilities are Serviceberry and deciduous Magnolias--there are some very narrow (fastigiate) ones.

A dogwood planted in the aspect described by the OP is NOT a good choice!! Dogwoods are woodland understory trees by nature - just like Japanese maples - and planting one with a western exposure in front of brick is unnecessarily stressing the tree. Dogwoods respond to high heat by curling and drooping their leaves.

and an apple and pear tree on the west side need to come out for many reasons.

==>>> if you tell us those reasons it might provide some information ...

btw.. where do your prevailing winter winds come from ....for me its the NW ... which means your west side might get blasted in winter ... many of the foo foo dogwoods might not thrive there ...

in other words. you are thinking about summer problems.. i am thinking also.. about winter ...

trees basically never stop growing ... anything called fast growing.. will very quickly become too big for your 15 feet .. and just wont stop .... btw.. is the neighbor another 15 feet??? .. so 30 total ...

i love redbud ... should be totally zone appropriate ... as long as you dont go for one of the foo foo ones ...

you might want to expand you options by looking into shrubs that are pruned into tree form .. much smaller future potential .. without all that much pruning ...

ken

btw.. if you add a pic or two of the space.. it might helps us come up with better ideas .... for you ...

ken

Thank you all for your thoughts so far! Let me answer questions first. The trees came with the house. There were 2 apples on opposite ends of the yard (east and west) originally, both near the edge of my property. They were not sprayed / pruned for many years, and I had no desire to attempt pruning and spraying huge trees. Apples were buggy, and just fell all over the place. We took out one apple, hoping the other would now not have a pollinator, thus not produce fruit. Didn’t work. This year was a killer apple crop, and I don't have the time to pick up dropped apples. They rot and attract wasps which sting the dogs. Not only that, many of the lower branches are dead, bark is peeling, and the woodpeckers love to peck at it. It’s doomed. The pear is not in bad shape - a manageable size and "prunable" so it does not HAVE to come out. But I don’t spray it, and there are worms in the fruit. I wouldn’t mind picking them, cutting the bad parts out, etc -but I’m not crazy about pears. Plus, that comes at a time when I’m busy dealing with picking, freezing and canning all the veggies I grow. Just don’t have the time to deal with them.

Winter winds come from w / nw - thus me stating they can get some wicked winds in that location. Between that, and the afternoon sun and heat radiating off a brick house, it is a rough environment. I went out to take some pictures, and realized I do need a bit of height too. (Funny how sometimes you need to chat with others to think of things you didn’t on your own, isn’t it?) The summer sun is high, and I will need something tall enough to block it, unless I plant some shrubs much closer to the house. The neighbors house is a good 50-60’ off my property line - it is just all grass in between.

Hopefully the pictures help. Property line, and house. My Black and Tan Coonhound had to get in them as well….. :)

“The woodpeckers love to peck at it“. Could you change your view from ‘it’s an eyesore’ to ‘it’s a valuable wildlife habitat’? I’d love to have woodpeckers. I’m so jealous. You appear to have a huge amount of space. Why restrict yourself to small trees? You could have a wonderful species rich copse there and make a valuable contribution to wildlife. The environment would be less rough if the area wasn’t so bare.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK - Please do not put words in my mouth, It is not an eyesore, it is dying and has been, and that's why the woodpeckers are hitting it so hard. I hang suet for the woodpeckers, and I have Red bellied, downy, hairy, flickers, and if I'm lucky, a pair of red-headed start hitting the suet in spring around mating season. I have an average lot - the bare area next to my house is my neighbors. If I had acres, I'd let the tree be - but that is not what this post is about.

Interesting and I think (hope?) healthy exchange there between OP and floral.

I was about to recommend what had been in my mind for years as one of the most promising midwestern mid-sized shade trees: Ulmus 'Frontier', but I now read it is susceptible to elm yellows. What about a hardy strain or cultivar of Bald Cypress?

UPDATE: I would have thought lackbark elms were 5b hardy at best, but JF Schmidt claims to have some that are fully hardy. Buyer beware but it is a satisfying shade tree, and apparently resistant to yellows. (phloem necrosis) https://www.jfschmidt.com/pdfs/jfs-ulmus-parvifolia-varieties.pdf The only other tree in my personal collection that would be 5a hardy and has been fast growing when young are the Quercus X procera I got about a decade ago from Oikos. There is a commercial clone of that grex, 'Crimson Spire'. Issue with using oaks as a shade tree near a house are the acorns pinging on the roof!

Of the 3 seedlings I planted they are all 15-20' tall now but one seems more prone to insects so it is getting the chop soon. But they grew very fast, and I believe Oikos has other oak hybrids that are very fast growing.

whatever you plant... get these for young trees .. and make sure they go above the usual anticipated snow fall ...

they can be removed in a few years ... when the bark matures .. they also expand on their own ... which is a plus.. if you forget about them for a decade or two ... lol ...

also ... since you have empty space.. you might want to consider shrubs rather than trees .. even deciduous.. they would cut the force of the wind against your house ...

think outside you tree box ...

and.. should you want to get rid of the trees... just have them cut to ground level.. and apply a stump killer ... you have plenty of space.. that you oughtn't need to plant in the exact same spots ....

ken

https://www.starkbros.com/products/tools-and-supplies/tree-accessories/stark-tree-guards

Thank you everyone. I have some ideas thanks to you all. I hate change. I have a chainsaw happy family member that has been wanting to take this tree down for years, and I fought it tooth and nail even though I know it needs to be done. The flowers in the spring attract the orioles. It's a great place to hang the bird feeders and view birds from the kitchen window. That's why I was thinking tree - I like it there, and will miss it when it's gone.

My yard is full of gardens - they actually surround every side of my house except this one. Then there is an island garden in the front yard, the veggie garden, 2 other raised beds, an asparagus patch, the herb garden, and the hummingbird / butterfly garden. I'd like this one side of the house to remain relatively low maintenance.

Thanks again for your thoughts. :)

There are some traps for bugs that you hang on fruit trees. I have a huge butternut which is very fruitful. Most of the fruit is wormy, which spoils the nuts. I use a long-handled grabber, so I don't have to bend over to pick them up. Also, I can do it one-handed while talking on the phone.