This is one interesting house! The original house was built in 1910 but in 1943 the family completely remodeled it and made it a "passive solar house"- yes, in 1943! A passive solar house only uses the light and heat from the sun. It does not rely on solar panels or ways electricity can be generated.
What you can't see here is the back of the home which is completely covered in windows using an ingenious double-paned window system. In the winter the two panes captured the heat and a venting system moved that heat all around the house. The front has its fair share of windows too, but the backside is where the "work" was done.
That slanted piece toward center was not part of the 1943 remodel. It was added later- probably in the 1970's. Another feature you can't see is the angle of the roof. It is slanted in such a way that it gets maximum heat from the sun in the winter, and takes in less sunlight in the hottest months of summer. We tend to think of solar power as something new- but an even more ecologically friendly version of it was available and in use in the early 1940s.
The Ramirez House is hopefully going to be restored to its former glory but fund raising is really slow as it sits in a National Park area here that has literally hundreds of buildings that need attention. It is one of two homes built like this that remain in the USA. The other is apparently in complete disrepair. Hopefully the Ramirez House will get the attention it needs before it's too late.
My "Artificial Mushroom" from the other day was one of the lights you see by the staircase here. I'll be posting a few more shots from my photo walk here in the days to come.
it just shows how slow our progress on this front has been over the last 70 years. Priorities all wrong! There are very few sustainable houses being built here even now. I hope the building gets proper restoration and use.
Thank you for all your views, comments and favs! More pictures to come...
@eudora Neither had I Diane!