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EarthWays Home

 

DESCRIPTION: The EarthWays Home, a handsome Victorian residence, was built in 1885 in what is now the heart of the Grand Center entertainment district. The building has been renovated to demonstrate options for home building, rehab and furnishing that minimize impact on the environment while saving money for homeowners. The 1994 renovation used modern, energy-saving materials and the house is equipped with energy-saving appliances and fixtures, while its original architectural features were retained. The EarthWays Home demonstrates practical, affordable and easily accessible ways homeowners and companies can cut resource consumption and reduce waste in building improvement and operation. Tours highlight renewable energy sources - solar power and geothermal heating and cooling - and everyday energy efficiency practices common to homes, businesses and consumer purchasing decisions. Recycling features include indoor and outdoor composting systems and many examples of household products and furnishing made from recycled and sustainably produced material.

The garden and grounds showcase native plants that minimize maintenance while reducing or eliminating water and chemical usage, including options for lawn, flower bed and pond landscaping. The EarthWays Home offers visitors of all ages many examples of ways to make a difference in our consumption of natural resources while maintaining a comfortable and practical standard of living. These examples can be applied to reduce energy and resource use - and associated costs - in schools, municipal buildings and businesses as well as at home.

ADDRESS: 3617 Grandel Square, St. Louis, MO 63108

LOCATION: Grand Center, the arts and entertainment district of St. Louis.

PHONE NUMBER: 314-577-0220

WEB SITE: www.mobot.org/gatewaycenter/earthways.html

GETTING THERE: From downtown, take I-64/40 west to the Grand Boulevard exit. Turn right on Grand Boulevard. Proceed several blocks to Grandel Square. Turn left on Grandel. The home will be on your right. Metered street parking is available.

HOURS: Advance reservations are required for group tours of the EarthWays Home, available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Guided tours take one hour. Tours are suitable for adults and children in third grade and older. With advance notice, specific topics can be addressed in conjunction with a tour. Reservations must be made two weeks in advance. Requests for tours on other days and times will be considered on an individual basis and may require an additional charge. Tours are $2 per person with a $30 group minimum. Payment is due at tour time, in cash or check made payable to Missouri Botanical Garden. Maximum tour group size is 30 people, including one adult with each 15 students. The full tour charge will apply with less than 24 hours cancellation. Reservations may be made online.

Open House Days are the third Friday and Saturday of every month, with the public welcome to join guided tours beginning on the hour at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. No reservation is needed for Open House Days.

HANDICAPPED ACCESS: The EarthWays Home, an historic building, is not accessible for disabled visitors.

ADMISSION: $2 per person, free for Missouri Botanical Members and children under 12. Group rate is a $30 minimum and a maximum of 30 people per tour, including one adult with each 15 students.

SIGNIFICANCE: The EarthWays Home is one of a handful of demonstration houses across the country that show visitors how to implement energy-saving techniques in their homes, their businesses and their lives.

WHAT'S NEW: The EarthWays Home is now operated by the Gateway Center for Resource Efficiency, a division of the Missouri Botanical Garden. A docent group offers volunteer opportunities for people interested in public environmental education about resource conservation. Outdoor murals depicting the five major renewable energy sources were designed by Sarah Linquist, noted St. Louis muralist and Master Scenic Artist for the St. Louis Municipal Opera, and painted by visitors to the 2002 Fall Energy Festival.

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Visitors riding The Energy Bike become a "power plant," demonstrating how much energy is needed to light conventional and high-efficiency lightbulbs and other household appliances.
  • Furnishings in the EarthWays Home were selected for their low impact on the environment, demonstrating how people can preserve natural resources with their consumer purchasing choices.
  • Many of the building products are made from recycled materials, including carpeting, carpet padding, bathroom tiles, wall framing and insulation.
  • Kitchen cabinets and hardwood flooring showcase options for reuse of building materials.
  • An outdoor composting bin and indoor vermicomposting (worm) bins show how kitchen scraps can be transformed into organic garden fertilizer.
  • The home is lighted with energy saving lamps and light fixtures. Lamps hooked up to an electric meter show visitors how compact fluorescent bulbs use less energy than incandescent lighting. A display of lightbulbs shows the variety of energy-efficient products available to meet both utility and decorating needs.
  • Cut-away wall sections show visitors how super insulation reduces heating and cooling costs maintaining indoor comfort levels.
  • Argon gas-filled, low-emissivity windows insulate the house and reflect heat to increase the home's efficiency.
  • A variety of window treatments combine aesthetics with energy conservation.
  • Photovoltaic panels produce electricity from sunlight, powering kitchen appliances and the pond waterfall.
  • A high-efficiency refrigerator uses one-fifth the electricity of a standard unit, demonstrating energy savings through insulation and appliance design.
  • The bathroom demonstrates several water-saving options, including a hand-washing sink on the toilet tank lid that is a basic example of a household "graywater" system.
  • The house has a geothermal heating and cooling system using piping looped 192 feet into the earth outside of the house to absorb the earth's constant temperature which it uses as a base from which to heat or cool the ground floors of the building.
  • A super-efficient gas furnace heats and cools the floors of the building.
  • Low-cost and no-cost options to save energy and save money are featured throughout the house, along with major appliances and building systems.
  • The Buffalo grass lawn is a drought-loving, traffic-tolerant landscaping option that minimizes mowing and watering and needs no chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
  • Native landscaping includes flowering plants, shrubs and trees that create habitat for birds and butterflies while minimizing water and maintenance needs.
  • The garden pond demonstrates planting combinations that maintain balance in a contained aquatic ecosystem with no mechanical or chemical additions.

HISTORY: The EarthWays Home, located in the heart of the Grand Center entertainment district, was built in 1885 for $5,200 for Joseph E. Klime, a prominent St. Louis real estate man. Brothers Jacob and Ephraim Block, noted St. Louis portrait photographers, bought the house in 1921. They lived in the house and also used it as a studio for their photography business. Over the years, the two men photographed virtually every aspect of St. Louis life from weddings, funerals, graduations and bar mitzvahs to portraits of prominent officials, gangsters and theatrical personalities appearing at nearby theatres along Grand Boulevard.

Jacob Block died in 1950. Ephraim Block continued the business until 1977 when he closed the business and the house. He died in 1984. His collection of photographs was donated to the Missouri Historical Society and provide an excellent visual record of the way a large segment of St. Louis society lived.

The building had been abandoned for several years when it was purchased by Grand Center, a group that promotes development of the mid-town neighborhood. In 1992, EarthWays Inc., an environmental nonprofit that evolved from coordination of St. Louis' largest Earth Day celebration, was inspired by a miniature model home developed by MERP (Mid-America Energy and Resource Partners), an environmental education agency that was part of the Cooperating School Districts of St. Louis. Members of the EarthWays group decided to renovate a full-sized home similar to the MERP model, which taught schoolchildren about energy conservation.

After scouting around for an appropriate house to renovate for the project, the group settled on the Block house. They raised $500,000 to buy the house and renovated it to show people how easy and practical it can be to minimize their impact on the environment through their selection of products and the way they build and furnish their homes. EarthWays dissolved in 1997. The Missouri Botanical Garden acquired the building in 2000. At about the same time, MERP, an organization that educates and encourages recycling, now known as the Gateway Center for Resource Efficiency became a new division of the Garden, adding to its extensive programming for schools and businesses operation of the EarthWays Home, including tours and periodic special events.

WHAT'S COMING UP: More displays will be added and plans are underway to develop more interactive exhibits.

WHERE TO GET LUNCH: There are a few eateries in the Grand Center/St. Louis University campus area. A wide variety of restaurants are in the Central West End, about a mile to the west and the Grand South Grand neighborhood a mile south.

GIFT SHOP: None. However, the Missouri Botanical Garden, a few miles to the south, has an extensive gift shop featuring plants, gifts relating to gardening and books including several on recycling and energy efficiency.

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS: Tours and programs on recycling can be tailored toward school groups.

WHAT'S NEARBY: Nearby are the 1929 Fox Theatre, the Edison Gallery, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Portfolio Gallery, the Sheldon Theatre and Powell Symphony Hall. About a mile to the west is Forest Park with its four free major attractions-the world-famous Saint Louis Zoo, the Art Museum, the Science Center and the Missouri History Museum.

PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACT: Jean Ponzi, Program Manager, 314-577-0246, jean.ponzi@mobot.org

 

Readers should call 1-800-916-0040 to request a free copy of the Official St. Louis Visitor Guide or point, click and explore St. Louis at www.explorestlouis.com