Spotlight: American Green Home

Location: Claremont, CA
Housing Size:

GreenPoint Rated: Existing Home Single Family
Designation: Elements
Version:

Contractor:
Rater:

“need quote.”

– speaker

Impact Highlights

The first GreenPoint Rated historic home—a Greene and Greene house in Claremont—showcases how to improve a building’s environmental performance while protecting its architectural integrity.

Blenda and Andrew Wright’s home, an influential work by early twentieth century architects Greene and Greene, had seen better days. The couple wanted to accommodate a modern lifestyle while protecting and restoring their home’s architectural integrity. More than 100 years later, it seems only fitting that the home bear another green label—GreenPoint Rated.

Improving the environmental performance of a historic home proved to be an exciting opportunity for their architecture and construction firm, HartmanBaldwin.

Projected savings from the high-performance complex include:

% reduction in energy usage compared to baseline
% reduction in water usage compared to baseline
tons of solid waste diverted from landfill
tons of CO2 emissions avoided
$ estimated annual savings per unit on gas and electric

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Properly sealing and insulating the home’s building envelope helped make it possible to downsize the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, which has the dual benefit of improving comfort and reducing energy use.

Health / Air Quality

The home has a detached garage, used low-VOC paints throughout the home’s interior. The bathrooms and kitchen have exhaust fans that vent to the outside to remove moisture and odors. The HVAC system has a high efficiency filter to reduce indoor air pollution, and the home has an alarm to alert residents if carbon monoxide in the indoor air exceeds safe levels.

Water Conservation

All the faucets and showerheads were replaced with low-flow fixtures, and the toilets were replaced with low-flow reproductions of a 1921 toilet with a low wall-hung tank. Planned improvements to the home’s landscaping include creating a garden true to the Arts and Crafts period, with a smaller lawn and an emphasis California native plants and trees that require less irrigation.

Resource Conservation

The project team took strides to reduce waste wherever possible. The original garage, for example, was relocated in its entirety to another property in Claremont. Its new owners are planning to restore it and use it as a guesthouse. Construction waste, including cardboard, plastic and aluminum, was recycled and some fixtures were removed and resued on a different project..

Community

As is common with many older homes, the Darling-Wright residence presents an inviting face to the community, with a front door and porch oriented toward the street. The pedestrian-friendly neighborhood is served by public transit, and many neighborhood services and amenities are located within walking distance. The project also received GreenPoint Rated points for accessibility, thanks to a ground-floor bathroom that has blocking for grab bars.