Man, if I only had $2.45 million! Wanna go in with me on it? You can pick which house. We could make it Canary Central. C’mon!
What: These two houses in Rollingwood exemplify how environmentally friendly a luxury home can be. The first house, 500 Riley Road, was completed last spring. The second house, 502 Riley Road, is nearly finished. The first house received a five-star rating from Austin Energy’s Green Building Program, the highest rating possible, and the owner expects the second house to be similarly rated.
The homes were designed by architect Peter Pfeiffer of Barley & Pfeiffer Architects; built by Edaco Construction of Austin; and owned by developer Stanley Lerman of Jivaka LLC. They were built so that their inhabitants can live as chemical-free as possible.
The sealed concrete floors were installed without synthetic chemicals and need only water to clean them. Each house has an advanced air-conditioning system that purifies the air. There are timed vents in each bathroom to reduce humidity and make sure it doesn’t spread to the rest of the house. Both homes have water-saving plumbing fixtures, toilets, dishwashers and washing machines, and many huge windows, which cut down on the need for electric light.
Because garages can be filled with unhealthy air, tainted by gasoline and paint fumes, these homes have no garages, only carports. There is a large storage area next to each house but separate from the main dwelling to keep living areas from being exposed to chemical fumes.
To avoid the fumes that can come from cooking with a gas stove, the kitchen in each house has an induction stove, which generates a magnetic field to heat steel and iron cookware.
Both homes have a modern design, with a palette of pale colors, soaking tubs, walk-in closets, Brazilian hardwood stairs and quartz countertops.
Each house has five bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms. 500 Riley Road has about 4,100 square feet; 502 Riley Road is slightly larger, at 4,400 square feet. The homes are for sale separately.
Where: 500 and 502 Riley Road, Rollingwood, 78746
Amenities: Each house has its own pool. Both swimming pools are outfitted with a state-of-the-art ionization filtration system, which eliminates bacteria, algae and calcium build-up without using chemicals. Both homes also have low-water-use landscapes with native plants. The landscape is watered using a drip irrigation system.
Agents: Todd Smith, Shaunna Terry and Gretchen Janzow, Capital City Sotheby’s International Realty
Asking price: Each house is listed at $2.45 million.
FYI: The paint in these houses is as nontoxic as possible. Only paints and finishes with low or no volatile organic compounds were used for the walls and trim. (Such products are considered safer for people with allergies and chemical sensitivities.)
The project was chosen as the 2008 Healthy Home by Healthy Child Healthy World, a California-based nonprofit organization that is dedicated to protecting children’s health by limiting their environmental exposure to pesticides and other chemicals. The organization hosted tours of the houses in the spring.
I struggle all the time with the issue of eating meat. I do not want to eat mammals, not for health reasons, but for ethical imperative: I love animals and cannot bear the suffering endured by mammals meant as food, especially those grown in commercial feed lots destined for an inhumane slaughter.
