By: Amanda Kolson Hurley


Along with their historic charm, Baltimore’s signature rowhouses often come with less desirable features: poor insulation, outdated HVAC systems, and draft-prone windows that sap energy, drive up utility bills, and detract from residents’ health and comfort.

Yet according to architect Julie E. Gabrielli, there’s no better model for sustainable design than the classic Baltimore rowhouse. “The great thing about rowhouses is, they’re inherently energy-efficient because of the party walls [that divide the houses],” she explains. A co-principal in the Hampden firm TerraLogos: Eco Architecture, PC, Gabrielli is pioneering the greening of rowhouse rehabilitations in Baltimore City. As a result of her efforts, the Maryland Energy Administration will begin a pilot program for city eco-rehabs this spring.

Three years ago, Gabrielli drew up the Green Building Template for Rowhouse Renovation, funded by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA). Collaborating with DNR and MEA colleagues, she aimed to increase the energy efficiency of the typical Baltimore rowhouse, improve indoor air quality, and reduce consumption of natural resources-all while ensuring easy home maintenance and keeping the initial costs of the renovation down.

On this last point, Gabrielli states her findings bluntly: “We couldn’t get to any level of green without adding cost.” But her recommendations- and those initial outlays of cost-may come as a surprise. The first phase of recommended upgrades (Gabrielli calls it “light green”) consists largely of measures that any conscientious homeowner might take. Good cellulose insulation is added to the roof and exterior walls. High-quality glazed windows are installed, as are ceiling fans. Ducts are sealed; caulking is touched up. “Some people perceive ‘green’ as living in the side of a mountain,” observes Jim Hackler, program manager of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Homes program at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). “But energy efficiency is green.”

This “light green” package, Gabrielli’s data show, would raise the base cost of a $48,000 rehab by about 5% (a little more than $2,000). But it would yield annual energy savings of around 22%.

Savings increase dramatically when a house is remodeled to meet “medium” and “deep green” standards. Gabrielli’s “deep green” package includes a planted green roof (to cool the air in the house and extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere), solar tubes for heating water, and solar panels mounted on exterior walls. Together, these modifications would cut household energy costs by 72%, although the initial investment would be more substantial-an additional 43% on top of a base budget of $50,000 (about $22,000).

Today, sustainable design “is often couched as something to save money,” notes Gabrielli. That logic seems to be finding favor within the building industry. According to USGBC figures, the number of new buildings meeting their LEED standards has jumped in recent years. Studies show that green design can lower operating costs for companies, and improve employee health and productivity. Most notably, it can raise property values: A study in The Appraisal Journal found that energy-efficiency upgrades can increase home values by more than the cost of the upgrade, especially with rising utility costs.

The MEA, working with the firm Steven Winter Associates, expects to move forward this spring on a $150,000 pilot project based on Gabrielli’s template. Five existing houses will be renovated and three new townhouses will be built, all of them significantly above code. “During the design and construction, we’re going to have a series of workshops, so [designers and builders] can see what goes into something like this,” says the MEA’s assistant director, Walt Auburn. Auburn says he frequently gets calls from homeowners wanting advice on green design. “The interest is out there,” he says.

“You still hear more about the consideration of green standards as related to new construction,” says Otis Rolley III, director of Baltimore City’s Planning Department. “But any opportunity to rehabilitate rowhouses in a green way is exciting.”

Kim Schaefer, Gabrielli’s co-principal in TerraLogos, rehabbed her own Patterson Park rowhouse to a “medium green” level. So far, “the bills are coming out close to what the [template] model showed,” says Schaefer, who made extensive use of salvage materials in the house and added a sunroom to bring in natural light.

TerraLogos isn’t alone in applying green techniques to rowhouse renovations. Developer Lindsey Bramwell is applying the sustainable rehab philosophy in the Washington Village neighborhood, also called Pigtown. “The goal is to have green rehabs in Pigtown, and jobs for green rehabbers,” she says of her new venture, The Green Pig, a combination gourmet café, yoga studio, and two apartment units in one solar-powered building.

Together with her son and business partner, Bo, Bramwell is also renovating twelve derelict rowhouses on Callender and Reinhardt streets in the same neighborhood. “They’re the epitome of efficiency, these jewel-box houses,” Bramwell remarks of the one-bedroom properties. By installing solar panels and, in one house, a tankless hot-water heater, she and her five-person crew are “figuring out how green we can go without funding,” she says.

Bramwell-who in late March said she was “in discussion” with TerraLogos about this project-expects to spend around $800,000 transforming 769 Washington Boulevard into the Green Pig. She’s finding that sustainable design comes with a price tag. “It’s about $15,000 per unit for solar PV [photovoltaic panels],” she says. “But then there’s stuff you’re going to do anyway: ceramic floors in the kitchen and bathroom, high-performance glass.”

The Green Pig is only part of Bramwell’s wider vision. “We’re going to be building a sustainable, green community,” she says. “We want to develop a reliance on renewable resources, and diminish our dependence on foreign fossil fuel.”

For Gabrielli as well, taking the long view-or “thinking in terms of systems,” in her words-is crucial. She notes that more and more residential developers offer options like kitchen composters in their new houses, a sign that green is going mainstream. However, this “makes green design look like an à la carte choice,” she says.

Gabrielli hopes for a more holistic approach. “The city’s an ecosystem,” she says. “Whether we know it or not.”

-Amanda Kolson Hurley lives in Baltimore and is the associate editor of Preservation, the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.



EMAIL TO EDITOR // SEND TO A FRIEND // PRINT