There is a big difference between sustainable building and furnishing and energy efficient. This house may be energy efficient from here on, but the reconstruction was not in a truly sustainable mode. That would require reusing, recycling and building small, they did very little if any of this. You can rarely be both extravagant and sustainable. Though congrats on reusing Grandma’s chairs.
The San Francisco version of Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities...
House "Porn" for the top 0.001%... but it is LEED Certified and only cost $6 Million... but the virtue!
And I am supposed to feel guilty about my not quite "McMansion"?
Don't get me wrong, I am interested in many aspects of the subject, but this is beyond over the top.
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@JavalinaTex - Amen!!!!!
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Add new insulation and electrical wiring, but in all the rest create a minimalist space. Decorating and over-cluttering the houses is a proof that Ecclesiastes's (7:29) words were right: "God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions".
A green renovation of an older home means adding modern insulation and elements like greywater collection and solar panels. It does not mean gutting the place and flying in new marble from Italy. The greenest materials are the ones that are already there, and if LEED actually gave them more credit for using, say, reclaimed steel in a brand-new staircase than for keeping the old one, it's a massive flaw in that certification.
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Sorry . I think this is bland with a capital “B”.
Would also have liked to see more details that were saved / might have been saved from its 1905 origin.
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As I understand it, they paid $2.9M for the home and then another $3M+ (4,630 sq ft x $650 per sq ft) for the work for a total of around $6M.
Even in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the US, it is extremely unlikely that they could get their money back if they were to sell.
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@Stephanie - Aside from ROI - they are one of the many who continue to support my theory that the The more money you have, the stupider your decisions.
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Very cool.
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This is lovely.
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This is abit like Michael Bloomberg campaigning for enviromental causes and owning 14 homes around the world that he jets off to in his private jet.
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It's a home of the moment. It's an Edwardian style house turned into a mid-century one. Wouldn't it be more prudent in the 21st century to use the existing materials in the house? Surely, green renovation and conservation can be done with far less waste and energy use than this one.
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Agree. Times, up your game by running the numbers. Does this remodel save resources in the long run?
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Very nice and almost perfect, but ....... why have an inefficient gas cook top if an induction range would be much more energy efficient, cleaner and far quicker responsive than a conventional gas range? and yes, cleaning the pots after you are done cooking is also easier :-)
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I think that it is really beautiful and I am an advocate of gray water usage. We ought to start using gray water whenever and wherever we can.
Of course 99.9 % of people cannot offer $2.9 million for a house with the interior not examined because they have such financial comfort that they can fix whatever is discovered. But for someone who can I think they did a beautiful thing. Light , air, windows, simplicity, and gardens. Happy looking girls. Very nice to see.
Also they could give occasional tours for other architects, designers, sustainability advocates and the interested public. Money raised could go toward sustainable design initiatives.
Perhaps they could write a book or post a website.
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@Consuelo
As much as I would like an opportunity to see this house in all its glory from the inside, I think it is somewhat rude to suggest that perhaps they should host "open houses" for strangers from time to time.
If they were to initiate this, it would be a different matter altogether.
Maybe I am just too old-school.
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There is not much about this that is "sustainable", and they shouldn't be under any delusion that there is.
Gutting out what was there and dragging in lots of high-end finishes is not a sustainable notion any way you slice it. All that land-fill. That slab of marble did not walk in there on its own. That fancy staircase exploited lots of energy to fabricate and install. The old staircase is, again, in a landfill.
This is a fantasy trying to legitimize wanting a glitzy pad. The stuff that did improve efficiency could have largely been done without the gut reno. A family of 4 in 4,603 sq ft is not "sustainable". A little gray water isn't going to make it so.
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@Matthew
Sad to say, I do agree.
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@Georg B
That coffee table alone in that pic is sorta like "let's see how many trees I can use to make a table!!" But is does feel good to put your feet up on it.
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It is a beautiful renovation. It balances color and warmth with lots of white, daylight and views that looks delightful to live in. It was great to hear about the sustainability strategies - thank you and congratulations!
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I love the gray water recycling in the home! It is an old fashioned concept that should be new again.
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I'm conflicted. On one hand, all too often we use technological progress, innovation, and capital only to expand standards of living, essentially using "sustainable" technology to allow us to use more and more resources. So, I feel compelled to praise someone who actually put their money where their mouth is and used technology to do "the same with less".
On the other hand, the price tag is out of this world.
The article would have been better and more informative had it called out the price tag of the sustainability features vs. those that are just stylistic, or on some checklist somewhere for multi-million dollar renovations. I think for people of above average, but not obscene means, some these upgrades are not as pricey as we think. This consensus is already building on solar.
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The struggle to add sustainable features to this home is laughable - there is nothing sustainable about a house for four people that required a spend of $6 million.
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What’s amazing about this article, and so many others in the Times Real Estate section is that the insane price tag is combined with a confirmation that there is no way that these people earn enough money to pay for even a fraction of the cost of this home on their own. Maybe the fact that I am a demure native New Englander just makes me view these things differently, but if I owned a $6 million house, I would not publicize its price tag in an article that also mentions that my only income comes from a middling architecture firm that could not possible pay for my lifestyle.
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Beautiful home, but do these people actually "live" there? It looks like a showcase home that has no actual inhabitants.
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@Mike
Daily maid service.
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What an amazing looking project. Love the light, the backyard and the eco features.
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The interiors look bleached.
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Brilliant piece of work. Very inviting to the eye and both stylish and homey.
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