ABANDONING OUR HISTORIC CHARACTER: PROPOSED RELOCATION OF SOUTH EUCLID-LYNDHURST LIBRARY

 The Cuyahoga County Library Board is making plans to abandon the historic Telling Mansion Library in South Euclid-Lyndhurst and to replace it with a new, more expensive facility further from the center of the communities it serves.  This move would be a great loss for the residents of South Euclid, Lyndhurst, and all Northeast Ohio.

Built in 1928, the Telling Mansion Library is the former home of William Telling, a South Euclid resident, businessman, and financier. The Library is a beautiful structure that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The Mansion is a part of the legacy of the city of South Euclid, lending unique character to this community, and making it stand out among other Cleveland suburbs. 

Reading Garden. 

The Telling Mansion Library was cited by USA Today as one of “10 Great Places to Find a Nook and Read a Book.”  Author Nancy Pearl described the facility this way:

"The mansion is like a dream of a library with beautiful leaded windows, a reading garden with a fountain, and 26 different rooms.  Among them: a greenhouse, an aviary, and a cozy study.  Although the past is very much alive here, the needs of present-day library users—for new books, Internet access, discussion groups, and homework help—are not neglected."  

MANY REASONS TO SAVE TELLING LIBRARY

According to Branch Manager Steven Haynie, the Telling Mansion must be abandoned because it does not have “a layout conducive to public library service for the 21st century.”  The Library Board also claims that a new building is needed to reduce staffing requirements, provide more computer terminals, and provide larger meeting rooms for the public.  The Board plans to spend $12 million to replace the existing library. 

 

§   Renovation of the Telling Mansion—including energy upgrades and ADA accessibility modifications—is estimated to cost $5.6 million.  It seems that the concerns of the Library Board could be addressed more economically by upgrading the existing facility, and then building an addition to house functions such as meeting rooms and tech centers, and at far less cost than $12 million.

This alone should give pause to all involved in the process.  What is the justification for the unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer dollars, and getting a less interesting building in return?

§   The proposed new library will be located on Green Road.  This location is further from the center of South Euclid and entirely outside the boundaries of Lyndhurst.  The Telling Mansion is now just a ½ mile, or an easy 10 minute walk, from Memorial Junior High School and Brush High School.  The Green Road site is 1-½ miles from the schools, or a half hour walk.  Students would be much less likely to make this trek on foot, thus becoming more dependent on being driven by their parents or on driving themselves.

§   The proposed library location is also less accessible by transit than the current location.  The Telling Mansion is on the RTA’s Number 9 Bus route, with service running multiple times per hour, seven days a week.  In contrast, the Green Road site is served by RTA’s Number 34 Bus, which runs only once per hour, and without evening or weekend coverage.  The new library will be less accessible to those in the community who wish to use transit, and to those without cars, such as the young, the elderly, and the poor.

§   The Library Board wants the new library to meet LEED sustainable building standards.  But the renovation of existing structures is an equally valid green building strategy.  The benefit of renovation is that it conserves the energy and resources already embodied in the existing structure.  This includes the materials in the building, the energy expended to manufacture those materials, and also the energy used to erect the building in the first place. 

A recent rigorous study by the National Trust for Historic Preservation concluded: “It can take between 10 and 80 years for a new, energy-efficient building to overcome, through more efficient operations, the negative energy and climate change impacts caused in the construction process.”¹ 

In a way, extending the life of historic buildings is a low-tech method of carbon sequestration, as the CO₂ used in building these structures was released into the atmosphere long ago.

§   In addition to the ‘greenness’ of the building itself, location also matters when evaluating the overall sustainability of any structure.  Walkscore is an online metric which rates any address based on how easy it is to get around as a pedestrian.  Places are rated on a scale from 0 (Almost all daily errands require a car) to 100 (Walker’s Paradise:  Daily errands can be accomplished on foot.)  The Walkscore for the Telling Mansion is 66, which is rated as “Somewhat Walkable.”  The Walkscore for the proposed library site on Green Road drops to only 45, which is described as “Car Dependent.”  

Moving the library to the periphery of the two communities it serves, and off the well-trafficked RTA bus line, will mean residents will have to drive further to get to the building.  Longer car trips mean more carbon emissions.  LEED certification alone does not guarantee that a building is as sustainable as it can be.  A centralized location and access to multiple transit modes—car, bus, biking, walking—also contribute to a building’s holistic sustainability.  

 Main Entry Hall

A MATTER OF CHARACTER

Perhaps the most compelling reason to keep the library in this historic structure is this:  The Telling Mansion is an irreplaceable gem.  A new library building will  not have the quality, the history, and unique identity that the Mansion does.  The Telling Mansion has Character.  The new library most likely will not.

 Two exterior follies that are part of the Telling Mansion.

Parma Library Branch by GPD Group. (Source: Plain Dealer)

Renderings of the proposed replacement South Euclid-Lyndhurst library building are not yet available.  But GPD Group of Akron, the firm that is doing the planning for the Green Road site, also designed the Parma Branch, shown above.  Judging by the previous work of this firm, and by the other new branches built by the Library Board over the last several years, one can get a sense of what the proposed new library might look like.

Warrensville Heights Library Branch. (Source: Plain Dealer)

Does the above rendering depict a bank?  A health club?  A corporate headquarters?  It’s really hard to tell WHAT kind of function goes on inside; the building is so inscrutable in expression.  Is there anything about this structure that tells the passerby that it is a Civic building, a building for the benefit of the public? 

Parma Snow Library Branch. (Source: Plain Dealer)

The Parma Snow Branch resorted to putting the word “Library” on the front of the new structure to clear up any ambiguity about the building’s function.

AUTHENTICITY OF PLACE

There is also the question of Authenticity of Place in the new libraries that the County Library system is building.  Is there anything about these structures that tell you that they are in Northeast Ohio?  The new branches, in form and material, feel generic.  They look as if they could just as well have been built in Portland or Phoenix or Charlotte. 

Telling Mansion Rear Elevation

The Telling Mansion (while, admittedly, is a re-creation of an English manor house) could probably not be found in the cities listed above.  

North Royalton Library Branch. (Source: Plain Dealer)

In addition, the new libraries built by the County Library System all feel like they are interchangeable.  What distinguishes the North Royalton branch from the Warrensville Heights and Parma branches?  These are unique communities with their own special histories.  Why don’t the unique qualities of these places inform the architectural expression of their library buildings?

Our buildings should speak to the history and the culture that is special to each of our communities.  This is not a discussion about architectural “style.”  The new libraries can be modern or traditional in expression.  Designers are free to choose the architectural language that is appropriate to each particular project and community.  But our architecture should also reflect the accumulated knowledge of building traditions and materials that have proven themselves to be durable over time, and well-suited to the climate that is distinct to Northeast Ohio. 

Garfield Heights Library Branch. (Source: Plain Dealer)

A COMFORTABLE PLACE TO BE

Finally, is there anything in the renderings of these new facilities that implies there will be a comfortable place to be found within?  A spot to sit by a leaded-glass window, or under a peacock feather ceiling, and read a book or work on your laptop?

 

A sunny window spot (clockwise from above left), stained glass in the Main Stair Hall, a reading room (the former Breakfast Room) with peacock feather ceiling treatment.   

What are the chances that we are going to be able to speak about the new South Euclid-Lyndhurst Library facility in the same glowing prose that author Nancy Pearl of USA Today showered on the Telling Mansion, as quoted at the beginning of this post? 

COMMUNITY INPUT ESSENTIAL

Before the library construction process proceeds further, the prudent course would be to conduct a clear cost-benefit study comparing renovation to new construction, including construction costs and long-term operating costs.  After a thorough and transparent analysis, this information should be presented to the public.  Then the informed citizens of South Euclid and Lyndhurst should be allowed the chance to vote on the future of their library building. 

A Save the Telling Mansion Facebook group has formed to protest the relocation of the library.  Members of the group have gathered 1,700 signatures on a petition

opposing the relocation.  They have been protesting outside the mansion on a regular basis.  And they have been attending City Council meetings and letting their voices be heard.  Is there a corresponding group in favor of relocation?  Have they started a petition?  Have they been contacting their public officials?  If so, let all voices be heard, and let a decision be made by the members of the community in the full light of day.

The Cuyahoga County Library system is funded by the people.  The Library Board exists to represent the will of the people.  The citizens and library users of these two communities should be allowed to determine their own fate, rather than have it dictated to them by a bureaucratic entity.

NEVER TOO LATE TO DO THE RIGHT THING

The planning process for the new library is well under way.  The land on Green Road has been purchased; preliminary traffic studies and site plans have been prepared.  But architectural contracts can be broken.  Land can be sold.  It is never too late to do the right thing, and it is definitely never too late to save the taxpayers some $6 million.

DÉJÀ VU

This writing is reminiscent of my previous posts on the demolition of the School of the Arts and John Marshall High School. 

We seem to want to continuously destroy our past, tear down our historic buildings, and to trade irreplaceable craftsmanship for . . . mediocre, supposedly efficient, dubiously ‘green’ new buildings.  We are abandoning our unique heritage and the varied character of our communities in exchange for expedience and efficiency.  And we are doing so at an alarming rate.

  Irreplaceable Craftsmanship.

TAKE A STAND

Branch Manager Haynie states that the Library System “cannot justify continuing to operate in a building that costs more but delivers less.”  But this begs the question:  Upon what criteria is the Library Board measuring costs, and the resulting value delivered? 

The beautiful and historic Telling Mansion Library brings intangible but real benefits to the quality of life in South Euclid and Lyndhurst.

We must take a stand for our history, our heritage, and our community.

NOTES

¹ Kaid Benfield, “The green dividend from reusing older buildings.” National Resource Defense Council Sustainable Communities blog, 24 January 2012.

ANOTHER TREASURE ABOUT TO FALL: JOHN MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL

The landmark John Marshall High School is about to succumb to the wrecking ball.  At the beginning of October, I sent a plea to each of the Cleveland School Board members, to the School CEO Eric Gordon, and to Mayor Frank Jackson, asking them to to reconsider their decision to demolish John Marshall.  All of these public servants have the power to stand up and say, “Let’s not do this.”  But they have not spoken up.   They are choosing to remain silent.

It is almost too late now.  Within a few weeks, this beautiful structure will be gone. Some of the stonework is currently being removed, to be saved “for future reuse.”  I would still welcome some sort of stay of execution for this wonderful landmark.  But damage has now been done.  It is definitely the eleventh hour for John Marshall.

What they are about to do is a tragedy and a travesty.  

And there is nothing I can really do to stop  it.  A ‘Save John Marshall’ Facebook group, led by the indefatigable Satinder Puri, has lobbied the city administration and the school board for months to try to save the building, but their voices were not heard.  As mine has not been heard.  Maybe our voices have been heard, but not really listened to.  This pretty clear from the reply letter I received from School CEO Gordon (posted below), where he reiterates the same tired talking points about why the building must come down. 

Existing spandrel panel soon to be lost under a pile of rubble.

There are questions about the whole decision-making process.  Questions about the propriety of the Landmark de-listing hearing by the City Landmarks Commission.  Questions about the calculations used to compare the costs of replacing the building versus renovating the existing structure.  Questions about the accuracy of the square footage numbers used in those calculations.  And questions about whether the cost of asbestos abatement and building demolition were figured into the pricetag for the new building.  These questions have gone unanswered.  

CEO Gordon did offer me an image of the new building to be constructed in John Marshall’s place.  The reader can judge for oneself whether he or she thinks the new building will have the character and level of craftsmanship of the old, and whether the new John Marshall will ever stand a chance of being listed as a City Landmark.

Rendering of Proposed New John Marshall High School (Image courtesy CMSD)

Here is my letter to CEO Gordon:

4 October 2012

Eric S. Gordon, CEO

Cleveland Metropolitan School District Board of Education
1380 East Sixth Street, Room 152
Cleveland, Ohio 44114 

Dear Mr. Gordon,

I am writing to you to tell you that it is not too late.  Yes, the construction trailer is on site, the fences have gone up, and interior materials abatement has begun, but the solid shell of the John Marshall High School building is still wholly intact.  I am writing to you as a concerned citizen, neighborhood resident, and architect to urge you to STOP the demolition of John Marshall.  This noble structure can and should be renovated to continue serving the educational needs of our children for generations to come.  

    

John Marshall boasts beautiful brick and stone construction, as well as fine Art Deco detailing that cannot be replicated in a new building.  Overall, the structure is in very good physical condition, especially for a building that is 80 years old.  The brick is not spalling.  The foundations are not moving.  It has many pleasant, light-filled classrooms.  This solid and proud building has stood for many years as a true landmark in the neighborhood.  It is a part of the community, and it is an enduring symbol of our forbearers’ commitment to the ideals of a quality public education for all.

We all can agree that our students deserve top-notch facilities in which to learn and succeed.  The building as it stands may not meet all the needs of modern educational facilities.  But surely at least part of John Marshall, in particular the original core of the building that fronts on West 140^th Street, could be saved and renovated for use as general purpose classrooms.  The City of Cleveland has stated that it wants to be a leader in the field of sustainability.  Saving and renovating historic structures is the most ‘green’ type of architecture that can be done, earning numerous credits under the LEED certification system.  Just as John Hay High School was renovated and is now a gem of the East side, John Marshall has the potential to be the pride of the West side. 

If you take action to stop this senseless demolition, I am fairly confident that at least 216 members of the Save John Marshall Facebook group, as well as the 2,000 signers of a petition to renovate, would change their votes from ‘No’ to ‘Yes’ on Issue 107.  Because you will have done the right thing.  And you will have demonstrated to us that the School Board is taking Cleveland’s school system in a positive new direction.

Attached for your review, please find my Elegy for the School of the Arts, about another community treasure that was recently lost to demolition.  The location and particulars of the buildings are different, but both structures are architectural gems, built in a time when civic institutions were constructed with pride and intended to endure for many years.  It is too late for the School of the Arts.

But it is not too late for John Marshall.  I understand that the OSFC funding system makes it more challenging to renovate rather than build new.  But sometimes the more arduous path is the more rewarding path.  And it’s never too late to do the right thing.  Until it is, of course.  Until the first day that the backhoes start ripping into the hallowed brick and stone of John Marshall High School.  Then, it will be too late. 

As CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, you have the power to save this civic treasure.  I ask you to do so now. 

Respectfully,

Daniel DeAngelo

Architect/Town Planner

Here is his response:

The City of Cleveland continues to head in the wrong direction by recklessly destroying its precious architectural legacy.  One day, we will wake up and look around, and we may find that there is nothing left of value in our city to save.  

R.I.P. John Marshall High School. 

SCHOOL OF THE ARTS R.I.P.

They’ve finally gone and done it.

For weeks now, I’ve been reluctant to drive over to the East side of Cleveland, in the vicinity of  University Circle. 

I have been dreading the drive east on Chester, then the turn south onto Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.  Because at a certain point along MLK, just past the Parkside Dwellings apartment building, I knew that someday soon I would round this bend, and in place of the beautiful and noble Cleveland School of the Arts Building,

I would find

A big

pile

of rubble.

And a space now filled with sky, where a solid edifice of red-orange brick proudly stood for 110 years.  One hundred ten years.

Last night,

that nightmare came true.

Even though I was prepared for the eventual blow, it still, literally, made me feel sick to my stomach to see the building gone.  Forever.  

Contractors had been dismantling the school building for months, doing asbestos abatement, and jackhammering loose some of the ornate glazed terra cotta tile trim pieces around the entranceways for “preservation” and “future re-use.”  Some fools’ cold comfort that is.

I had been hoping against hope.

  

That someone—a School Board member, a Councilperson, the Mayor—would see the facades of roman brick, still straight and true after over a century of use.  They would see the real jack arches spanning all of the window openings. 

They would see the exquisite buff-colored, glazed terra cotta cornices and that ornate detailing around the entries.  Really see them.  And, somehow, they would realize the gravity of what we were losing.  They would see that we can’t build structures of such quality and craftsmanship anymore.  And they would see the foolishness of allowing the destruction of this handsome building.

  

I was wrong.  No one came to this building’s rescue.  Not even me. 

It’s kind of silly to say, but I feel a bit like Charlton Heston at the end of the film Planet of the Apes, when he cries out:  

“Oh my God. . . .We finally really did it. You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! . . . damn you all to Hell!”

I feel powerless. 
For they just keep tearing down my beautiful city, brick by brick, and building by building.  Until some day, not far in the future, there will be nothing of worth left. 

Demolition of important historical works of architecture is happening in this City at an alarming rate.  These treasures are disappearing from existence on an almost weekly basis. 

It’s hard to keep up:  The Columbia Building, The Alhambra Apartments. The 1874 Stanley Building—one of the last remaining late nineteenth century structures in downtown Cleveland—has been condemned by the Building Department and is threatened with demolition.  CSU has recently won approval from the Landmarks Commission to tear down Walker & Weeks’ Wolfe Music Building on Euclid Avenue.  Next on the chopping block:  John Marshall High School. 

And on it goes.

At the School of the Arts, I mused on the idea of somehow chaining myself to the building to prevent its demolition and bring attention to this travesty.  But I told myself I couldn’t figure out the practicalities of it— Would I set up a tent and have my wife resupply me with food and other necessities?  Would I end up going to jail?  How does one go to the bathroom while chained to a building? If anyone even paid attention and asked me why I was doing it, could I speak eloquently enough about the issue?

I guess this wasn’t my moment yet, because I didn’t have the nerve. 

I do feel passionately about the issue of Preservation.  For two reasons:

First, reusing older buildings is more sustainable than building new (even if the replacement buildings are “green” and LEED certified).  Renovation conserves raw materials like wood, brick, steel, glass, and stone.  It also conserves the energy used to build these historic structures in the first place.  And it saves the energy used to extract and fabricate new construction materials.  These strategies reduce the impact of building construction on climate change.  If Cleveland wants to live up to its stated goal of being a sustainable city, then it must stop demolishing historic buildings, and start preserving and reusing them.

Second, older buildings are a legacy from our ancestors.  These buildings are our history.  They are valuable artifacts of our culture.  They speak of the values of the time in which they were constructed: craftsmanship, beauty, civic pride.  They are the sweat and the treasure and the hopes of those that came before us.  We toss them aside as if they no longer have any value.  Would we throw away old family photographs, the family silver, our grandmother’s quilt, because they are seen as out of fashion, or not the latest materials or technology?  Some would.  Those on the Cleveland School Board, some members of the Cleveland Landmarks Commission, and many others in this city would.

At a January 12 meeting, the Landmarks Commission was discussing whether to remove the existing Historic Landmark designation from another school building—John Marshall High School—and pave the way for its demise. Commission member and Ward 5 Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland said, 

“I don’t really know a lot about preservation or architecture, but I do like new things.  I am not a preservationist. . . . I vote demolition.”¹

We elect public officials to represent our interests and to be good caretakers of our public assets.  These solid, historic school buildings are the collective assets of the community.  We, the people, own them.  The first responsibility of our representatives in every case should be to determine the best and highest use of these pieces of our architectural heritage.  And then, with all the facts at their disposal, they should carefully decide whether to renovate, re-purpose, sell, or as an absolute last resort, demolish.  Our public officials have not been doing this job very well. 

The School of the Arts was in sound condition.  The brick was not spalling.  The cornices were not in disrepair.  In fact, the windows were recently replaced.  And a new roof had been installed ten years ago and was in “excellent” condition, according to the OSFC assessment.  Perhaps the needs of the SOA for performance space, specialized practice rooms, art studios, etc. could not be accommodated within the existing facility.   If renovation was truly not cost effective, as the School Board claims, then City officials should have exhausted all of the following possibilities before arriving at the decision to demolish:

§    Could a new SOA building have been built elsewhere on the campus shared with John Hay High School, while preserving the original SOA building for some other use?  There is a lot of open land on the eleven-acre campus, including expansive parking lots facing Carnegie Avenue.

§      Could an alternate site have been found for a new SOA facility, and the existing building put to some other useful purpose?  Surely, with the amount of disinvestment and foreclosure that has taken place in the city over the past few years, there must be nearby empty land that could have been used as a SOA campus. 

§   Could the SOA building have been saved and sold to another owner?  The building is directly across the street from the Case Western Reserve University campus.  Student housing is in high demand in University Circle.  Could it have been converted to student apartments?    

Is demolition really the best solution that we could come up with? 

The needless demolition of the School of the Arts shows a lack of vision, a lack of creative thinking, and a lack of good stewardship on the part of our elected officials.  Surely, we deserve better. Surely, we as a community can do better.   

Our ancestors built these magnificent structures.  We were given the responsibility of caring for these buildings.  We are foolhardy to demolish this legacy.  Our children will question our recklessness and wonder at what we were thinking.

Are we doomed as a society, as a city, because of the demolition of a single historic school building?

Perhaps not.  

But last night, as I rounded that bend on MLK Drive,

I wasn’t so sure.

NOTES

¹Ken Prendergast, "Cleveland Landmarks Commission Clears Way for John Marshall High School Demolition," Sun News, 19 January 2012:

http://www.cleveland.com/sunpostherald/index.ssf/2012/01/cleveland_landmarks_commission.html

AKRON STRAW BALE HOUSE: ARCHITECTURE FIRST, GREEN SECOND

Patricia Maher and Rebecca Johnson are building a pair of straw bale houses at 181 North Maple Street in Akron, OH.  Ms. Maher’s house, above, is the first to be constructed.

STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION

Straw bale construction typically involves stacking bales of straw like bricks to act as bearing walls, which are then finished with adobe plaster on the exterior.¹  Straw bale with adobe is not generally a part of the building tradition here in Ohio.  Though this building technique can be found in parts of the country with wet, cold climates, it is more often used in the hot, dry American Southwest.


AKRON STRAW BALE

In Ms. Maher’s house, the straw bales are employed in an unusual way.  The exterior walls are first framed conventionally, using wood studs, and wood siding for an exterior finish.  The 2 x 6 stud spaces are filled with a blown-in cellulose insulation made of shredded, recycled newspaper.  Then the building envelope is sealed on the inside with a one-inch layer of spray-on foam to prevent air leakage and minimize heat loss.  And finally, the straw bales are placed inboard of the wood studwalls and foam insulation. 

In the Second Floor Guest Bedroom, window header filled with cellulose 

and flanking walls with straw bale insulation are ready for application of earth plaster.

The thermal rating on the walls is an incredible R-59, per the builder, Calvin Smith.²  (The R-value for conventional studwall construction is about R-21 per DOE recommendations.)³  I was in the house on a recent day when the outside temperature was 35 degrees.  It was so warm, even without a furnace running, that the folks inside were comfortable working in tee-shirts.  The total heating bill for the house is projected to be about $300 per year.

 Earth plaster being applied to a curved window jamb.

The interior surface of the bales is finished with a 1-½ inch thick layer of ‘earth plaster’ made of clay, chopped straw, sand, and water.  The finished plaster surface can be integral stained or painted with a low-VOC, breathable paint. 

   

The exterior walls, including the straw bales, end up being almost two feet thick. So a really nice benefit of using this insulation method is that the windows and doors are set deep into the walls, with curved jambs, generous sills, and built-in window seats in some locations.  The thick walls provide a strong sense of enclosure and protection from the weather.  The thick insulation also results in a very quiet interior environment.

ARCHITECTURE & GREEN

The best thing about this straw bale house, as an example of Green Architecture, is that the house is Architecture first, and then Green.  The house does not sacrifice its architectural integrity in order to incorporate sustainable elements.  It doesn’t hit you over the head with its “Green-ness.”

 Gadget green house by William McDonough.⁴

It’s not “gadget Green” or “gizmo Green” as Miami Beach Architect Steve Mouzon likes to call this new generation of buildings that place so much emphasis on their sustainable features that they lose sight of creating quality, comprehensible architecture.⁵

Buildings do not necessarily have to wear their “Green Badge of Sustainability” on their sleeves, shouting to the world, “Look how sustainable I am!  Look how trendy I am!  Look at all of my cool sustainable features!”  They can, ideally, just be both excellent architecture and highly sustainable.  Neither has to be sacrificed at the cost of the other.  In fact, all good architecture should inherently be sustainable.  Sustainability is simply a reasonable, responsible way of building.

THE AKRON HOUSE EXAMPLE

The Akron straw bale house was designed by architect Joe Ferut, one of the best practitioners in Northeast Ohio, with the collaboration of its very involved and environmentally-minded owner.

Ms. Maher’s house does include many sustainable elements.  Besides the straw bale wall insulation, it features:

§      R-60 roof insulation

§      A long-lasting metal roof

§      A highly insulated, factory-engineered concrete panel basement wall system.⁶

§      It is built within an existing city, not in a new suburb.  This will reduce the amount of driving the owner will do, saving energy and reducing carbon emissions.  Building on an infill site also conserves farmland and protects wildlife habitat. 

§     The house is located just 150 feet from the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail.  Without having to get in her car, Ms. Maher can access a path for walking or biking north into the Cuyahoga Valley National Park or south to downtown Akron.

First and foremost, however, this is a well-designed house.  It has a simple form that feels familiar and recognizable.  Its high gabled roof makes for a memorable silhouette against the sky.  The house is sheathed in beautiful horizontal lap siding, with cedar shakes in the gables that add visual interest and character.  It is protected from the elements overhead by a dark brown standing seam metal roof. These are solid, durable, locally appropriate materials.  As architectural writer William Morgan puts it, the use of local building materials and methods gives “a respectful nod to . . . regional houses and barns, and, by extension, acknowledges a sense of place.” ⁷

The house has a generous and welcoming front porch, a gesture that will encourage socializing with neighbors. 

  Second Floor sleeping porch.

There is also a wonderful screened sleeping off the Master Bedroom on the Second Floor.  A sleeping porch is a perfectly sensible strategy for dealing with the warm nights of summer in Northeast Ohio.  It is easy to imagine the pleasures of sleeping out in the fresh air, with the sound of the crickets or a light rain lulling one off into a peaceful slumber.

All of these elements add up to a house that is thoughtfully designed to suit the particular needs, values, and aspirations of its owner, while being mindful of the planet’s limited resources. That, indeed, is the definition of good, responsible Architecture.

NOTES

¹ For more detailed information on straw bale construction, see this website: http://www.strawbale.com  For information on durability in wet climates, see this link: http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/QandA/strawbale/where.htm

² For Calvin Smith’s specific information on the composition of the wall and roof construction, see this page: http://thecivicartcleveland.blogspot.com/p/akron-straw-bale-house-construction_17.html

³  From a DOE Insulation Factsheet:

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/insulation/ins_08.html

⁴  Image is from an article by Alex Frangos, “The Green House of the Future”, The Wall Street Journal, 27 April 2009: 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124050414436548553.html

⁵ Steve Mouzon is an advocate of “The Original Green,” traditional solutions for sustainable building.  His website is  http://www.originalgreen.org/

⁶ For you tech heads (Steve!), more information on the basement wall construction system can be found at the Superior Walls website: 
http://www.superiorwalls.com/pages/products/xi-wall

and also in an press release about the straw bale house at

http://superiorwalls.newscactus.com/newsrelease-cid-1-id-30.html

⁷  William Morgan, Yankee Modern The Houses of Estes/Twombly (New York:  Princeton Architectural Press, 2010) p.18

OTHER RESOURCES:

Patricia’s blog about the house:  http://akronstrawbalehouses.tumblr.com/

Calvin Smith Builders’ website:  http://www.calvinsmithbuilders.net/

Architect Joe Ferut’s website:  http://www.ferutarchitects.com/index.shtml

Article about the house on WKSU’s website:

http://www.wksu.org/news/story/30767

Article about the house in the Akron Beacon Journal:

http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/breckenridge/mary-beth-breckenridge-building-a-house-of-straw-1.266653