The House Is Always Greener

The greenest house in the world is in San Francisco, according to this CNET article.

No, it isn't a verdant color; rather it has a net zero power consumption from the grid. Sixty percent of its power comes from photo voltaic panels on its roof. The remaining forty percent comes from a wind turbine in its yard.

The rain water is collected and used for laundry and toilets. All grey water, except the used toilet water, is recycled on the property. Used toilet water apparently gets flushed to the city's system.

There are many other features that awed San Francisco Mayer, Gavin Newsom in this video of his tour of the property.

Kansas City Architecture - Houses III - A Modern Twist

The humble foursquare house is ubiquitous in the Midwest. From farm houses to suburban architecture, the early 20th Century builders loved this simple and humble style.

There is little ornamentation, a lot of symmetry, and with most painted a boring white, a lot to be bored about most foursquare houses.

But not this one. It is a contemporary infill house that was built in the Westwood Hills neighborhood.

There is a lot to love about this house. It fits in the upscale neighborhood in aesthetic heft and architectural weight. The owners told me that they wanted a foursquare and asked the architect make it fit, but be contemporary.

The landscape is beautiful, but appropriate. The use of stone signals that this house is of a certain period in Kansas City.

The first clue that this is not a traditional foursquare is the lack of symmetry of the windows and doors. Yet, the slightly unsymmetrical placement pleases the eye.

Although I love über-modern architecture, I have a soft spot for this type of modern aesthetic that blends into its neighborhood and subtly whispers, "I'm more than you first suspect."

Kansas City Architecture - Houses II

This house is diagonal from the castle house. It was a dog of a house for many years.

It always seems to be gay men and women who see the potential in old houses. But even I didn't see the potential in this wreck of a house.

But two gay men saw what I didn't see. I never thought that they would make a silk purse out of that sow's ear, but they proved me wrong. It is one of the most beautiful homes on Valentine Road now.

Here is to the people who can see the silk purse in old houses and make their dream come true.

Kansas City Architecture - Houses

One of the things that I enjoyed most about Kansas City, other than the fountains, sculpture and people, was the diversity of housing architecture.

This was always a favorite house - the stone castle house in the Valentine. It represents the unusual limestone architecture of the city that doesn't seem to exist in such abundance in other cities.

A visiting relative once commented to me that her favorite part of Kansas City wasn't the obvious things. She had never seen stone used on houses to such impact before. She really fell in love with the old stone houses.

Sadly, the builders don't make houses like these anymore. It is cheaper and easier to put faux stone on exteriors than build houses with such substance and presence.

But in the older neighborhoods, a man's house can still be his castle.