Tom Newhouse’s 1978 eco-friendly home in Grand Rapids, designed with sustainability before its time, is now listed for sale at just under $540,000.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There’s a unique house being listed for sale in Grand Rapids on Thursday. It was designed to be fully sustainable before that was even a word.
13 ON YOUR SIDE met the brains behind the build. He took us on a tour of what could be one of the first sustainable homes ever built.
Hidden on the northwest side of Grand Rapids you’ll find “an Earth-shelter, passive-solar, green roof, energy-efficient building.”
The house is courtesy of Tom Newhouse, an industrial designer who graduated from the University of Michigan and later studied under one of the best, Herman Miller. Newhouse said that makes him “one generation younger than the mid-century modern gods of design.”
The house was built in 1978.
“We wanted to live a really green lifestyle,” said Newhouse. This was long before “going green” really became a thing.
Newhouse told 13 ON YOUR SIDE, “sustainability wasn’t an invented word yet.”
Way before its time, the house is accessible with a zero-step main floor. Plus, a woodburning stove to heat the home when the power goes out. Also, it’s all electric using 100% renewable energy.
Newhouse explained, “All-electric home means you’re not using any fossil fuels on the site – like no gas, no propane.”
It even includes a Viking stovetop range he helped to design while working for the company, adding that he “worked with Viking for 20-some years on it.”
With special attention to every detail down to the location. It’s built along what’s known as the 42nd Parallel North or 42 degrees north latitude.
That’s to “take into consideration the solar envelope in the summer,” he said.
If the more than 1,800 square feet of living space aren’t enough, there’s more space on the roof.
“Here, I sit in the morning with coffee,” said the owner.
This 3,100-square-foot roof is a certified wildlife habitat that offers more than just a pretty view.
Newhouse said, “The primary thing is summer cooling.”
He told our crew the home only needs A/C a few times a year because he said the green roof “sucks heat away from the house.”
The home is listed for just under $540,000 and there’s an open house scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 11.
Alyssa Zokoe-Hunter is part of the team selling the property with Zokoe Team at Five Star Real Estate. She said, “We’re still so close to like downtown amenities, grocery shopping, all that stuff, but when you’re here, you feel so secluded into nature and into the wilderness.”
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