Unique Spaces: Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington

August 27, 2012
4 Comments

Back in 2010, Jennifer Sergent wrote about a five-bedroom, 3,200 square-foot house in Kensington that was inspired by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The home, originally listed for $1.775 million, ultimately ended up selling for $1.499 million in early 2011.

The article (see below) was part of UrbanTurf’s Unique Spaces series, where we take a look at properties that could be considered “one-of-a-kind” in the DC area. If you have a home that you think fits the bill, send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). See all of our past Unique Spaces articles here.

Judy Whalley caught the Arts & Crafts bug after college when she was living in a 1930’s bungalow in Oak Park, Illinois – the town Frank Lloyd Wright and his craftsman/prairie style of architecture made famous.

Her career took her to the DC area where she worked as an anti-trust lawyer for the Justice Department, and she and her husband settled in Kensington, where they built their own Arts & Crafts home.

Now retired, Whalley wants to spread the love by building and selling houses in that distinctive style. Her first project (she discovered the land on her walking route in Kensington) just recently hit the market. In the process of building an Oak Park-style house in the DC suburbs, she decided to make the home as energy-efficient as possible.

Living Room

“We were all sort of feeling our way,” Whalley says about going green with the project, in which architect Jim Rill designed the house, Bethesda Bungalows built it, and consultants from Everyday Green advised them on how to keep it all eco-friendly.

The five-bedroom, 3,200 square-foot house has been certified as an EPA Healthy House and awaits a Gold certification through the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program. It has passive solar and geo-thermal heating and cooling, low- and no-VOC caulks, sealants and paint, and spray-foam insulation.

The hardwood flooring came from Second Chance architectural salvage in Baltimore where it had been salvaged from demolished homes; the kitchen and bath counters are made from recycled glass; and the ceramic tile throughout the house was hand-made from companies known for good environmental practices like Lewellen Studio in Bellingham, WA. The lighting is from Hubbardton Forge in Vermont, which has won awards for environmental excellence.

Kitchen

Even the walls are green, as they came “panelized,” which means the wood was cut and assembled in a warehouse, under climate-controlled conditions. This process cuts down on waste, since all the leftover wood is recycled for other projects, and the walls have not been subjected to the elements during construction, as they are on a site-built house.

While Whalley was committed to making the house green, her primary objective was always to have the design stay faithful to the Arts & Crafts style.

“It was her desire to create a craftsman/prairie Chicago architectural gem,” Jim Rill explained. “We looked at a lot of bungalow magazines and a lot of craftsman-style homes to come up with the inspiration for this home.”

4234 Everett Street, Kensington, MD 20895 (map)

UrbanTurf contributor Jennifer Sergent is the brains behind the DC By Design blog.