Web tour: Boston Globe: Gardeners for hire

Wednesday's Globe highlighted a growing phenomenon which is win-win for everyone. Michael Prager's article features three "urban ag outfits" in the Boston area that participate in lawn farming. Their innovative business models range from full care, using homeowner property for community supported agriculture (in which property owners get a share or portion of a share depending on garden size); to garden creation, so homeowners can grow their own produce; to consulting. 

Living in a condo, with only a tiny patio, a lawn farm isn't an option for me, but I'd happily contribute to a nearby urban community garden farmed by others. (As I've confessed before, I'm not much of a gardener, more of a garden fan.) Or maybe, just maybe, it's time for me to give this community gardening thing a try. Either way, Grow Salem will be hearing from me.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Web tour: Grey Gardens 2.0

I nearly missed last week’s New York Times article by Julie Scelfo about the transformation of the Grey Gardens property. Sally Quinn, the writer, and her husband Benjamin C. Bradlee, former executive editor of The Washington Post, acquired the derelict East Hampton, NY manse and overgrown grounds in 1979. Today, the surrounding lush gardens by Victoria Fensterer are breathtaking, as both the Times article and images will attest. Unfortunately, pictures of the resuscitated 10-bedroom dwelling (c. 1897) are not featured, but exquisite black and white before shots set the scene for what must have been a Herculean home-improvement project.

You may have noticed Grey Gardens much in the news lately, thanks to the recent airing of a new HBO Films production titled Grey Gardens based on the 1975 Maysles brothers’ documentary also titled Grey Gardens. There’s even a Grey Gardens book coming out in May, 2009, and there was a 2006-2007 acclaimed Broadway musical inspired by the same story. Both films, the musical, and the book feature Edith Bouvier Beale, known as Big Edie, and her daughter Little Edie who were, respectively, aunt and cousin to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Despite lives among New York’s high society in the late 30’s, by the 70's the Beales were isolated on their East Hampton estate, living in squalor among cats and raccoons. It’s this bizarre later phase that the Maylses captured with cinéma-vérité. In 1976 the Times published an interesting review of the uncomfortable documentary. The story of Grey Gardens has what Malcolm Gladwell might call the stickiness factor. It continues to capture our attention and imagination.

The re-imagined gardens further tap into the property's mystique. In the Times recent piece, Nora Ephron, a friend to Quinn and Bradlee, says of the grounds, “…I’ve never seen a picture of it that ever conveyed how amazing it is because, in some way, it’s a sort of a distant cousin to the wildness that was there when the Bradlees bought the house.” It sounds and looks like it’s full of enticing, exuberant vignettes. There’s even a little thatched-roof vintage cottage out back. How I’d love to see that featured in detail.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Web tour: Fix Housing First

Considering the dismal state of the housing market, it’s nice to see that there’s a coalition proposing a solution; it's the Fix Housing First Coalition. On the FHF website, Jerry Howard, President and CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, describes how we should and can fix housing first.

Howard notes that housing is the largest sector of the economy, and that with its collapse, it’s brought down two other sectors, the financial sector and the manufacturing sector. Howard argues that fixing housing first will help fix the other sectors. He sees a clear housing solution: “Stimulate the demand side; stabilize the supply side, and you have the sure fix.”

The Fix Housing First Coalition proposes non-refundable, short-term tax credits for all home buyers, plus below-market, 30-year fixed mortgages (available for a limited time), and continued foreclosure prevention. Visit the website to learn more.

FHF link by way of David Andreozzi via The Congress of Residential Architects

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

Web tour: NYT: Passive House

Have you seen the so-bad-it’s-good infomercial for the Snuggie? It’s a blanket with sleeves designed for winter, couch slackers. Well, if the Passive House Institute U.S. has its way, there’ll be no market for Snuggies. Last Friday’s New York Times shares the latest in mechanically ventilated, super-insulated, air-tight construction, known as the “passive house,” which will keep you toasty without a conventional furnace. Made popular in Germany by the Passivehaus Institut, it’s a concept slowly finding its way to the States.

The Times reports, “Decades ago, attempts at creating solar-heated homes failed, because of stagnant air and mold. But new passive houses use an ingenious central ventilation system. The warm air going out passes side by side with clean, cold air coming in, exchanging heat with 90 percent efficiency.”

If you visit the Passive House Institute U.S. website you can view a few sample “passive houses” built in the U.S. One, constructed in 2002/2003, features walls insulated with 12 inches of blown-in fiberglass plus 4 inches of exterior rigid polystyrene. The roof of that same building is insulated with 16 inches of blown-in fiberglass. The concrete slab is insulated with 14 inches of expanded polystyrene and the foundation perimeter is insulated with 6 inches of expanded polystyrene. Wow. It also features triple-glazed windows.

The Passive House Institute U.S. estimates that a “passive house” requires an approximately 10 percent additional upfront investment. It may be more depending on location and building design. As the Times article notes, “Compact shapes are simpler to seal, while sprawling homes are difficult to insulate and heat…Most passive houses allow about 500 square feet per person, a comfortable though not expansive living space.”

Until “passive houses” catch on here, the folks at Snuggie needn’t worry.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast

Web tour: Boston Sunday Globe: Preserving Modernism

It sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? But let’s face it; Modernism is a style, and, as such, significant Modern structures warrant preservation as much as important structures built in more commonly recognized historic styles like Greek Revival, Federal, or Georgian. Jaci Conry writes in the Globe that five Modern cottages in Wellfleet are en route to preservation thanks in large part to the efforts of Peter McMahon, an architect and executive director of the recently formed Cape Cod Modern House Trust.

The cottages, among 115 other homes, were built on land later assigned to the Cape Cod National Seashore when it was created in 1961. The National Park Service obtained the properties by eminent domain, offering their previous owners lifetime use of them or 25-year leases. Once empty, the five Wellfleet cottages fell into disrepair. They were slated for demolition in the late 90’s. Then times and attitudes changed. McMahon is now arranging to lease the properties from the Park Service through the Cape Cod Modern House Trust in order to preserve them. McMahon's organization plans on restoring the Gips House, designed by Charles Zehnder, first with hopes of opening it this summer to the public for tours, among other activities.

According to the Globe article, David Fixler president of DOCOMOMO/US New England, another non-profit engaged in preserving Modernism, said, “The cottages were built very cheaply and close to nature. They spoke to a wonderful way of life…”

McMahon is quoted in the piece saying, “There’s a lot to learn from these houses.” I don’t doubt it. I look forward to visiting them one day.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast