Gant Home Fw10
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The House that Kennedy built Fall and Winter GANT HOME
Transcript of Gant Home Fw10
The House that Kennedy built
Fall and WinterGant home
“People who are not connected to nature are deprived. Nature teaches
us about ourselves.”
mary r ichardson kennedy
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Built in 1920, this once white, wooden, colonial farmhouse
lies just outside quaint Mount Kisco, an hour from
Manhattan. It was previously used as a vacation home by
the Scribner publishing family and the award winning
gardener Gladys Goldschmidt.
The Kennedys moved in full-time
in 1984. However, a few years
ago, record rainfalls inundated
the property and created a
devastating flood and the family
returned from summer vacation
to find a foot of stagnant water
in their basement. Virulent mold
had turned the house exterior
black and spread throughout
the interior, worsening the kids’
asthma. Mary realized she had
to act. “I wanted to rebuild my
house as a model home that would
provide a healthy environment
for our children, be energy
self-sufficient, and that would
showcase the latest cutting edge
green technologies. I wanted to
prove that you could build a
‘green’ house with classic beauty and elegance.” The
Kennedy Green House Project was born.
Mary disassembled and recycled the old house, making
sure that nothing went to landfills. As word of the project
spread, friends signed on to help, contributing know-how,
time and materials toward achieving Mary’s vision of
creating an innovative, healthy and lovable structure that
could serve as an example and schoolhouse for others who
wanted to adopt a green lifestyle.
The new brick house built on the original 1870
foundation, is an architectural interpretation of a trad-
itional farmhouse from early last
century, with larger windows for
more sunlight. The visitor steps
through a quaint foyer onto a
beautiful wooden floor made of
materials rescued from the old
house. Several flooring experts
told Mary that it was impossible
to salvage. Then, John Yarema
a master woodworker from the
forests of Michigan, in the spirit of
the whole project, simply invented
a way using a patented laser and
the artistic sense of Leonardo
DaVinci. “John is a genius and
now forever part of the family”,
says Mary.
The sitting room, bathed
in natural light, also has an
intricately patterned Yarema
floor, a gift for Mary’s birthday.
The whole floor was put in place in only 16 hours, with
youngest son Aidan, 8, laying parts of it. Mary explains
that she never goes on any trip without trying to bring at
least one of the kids along, no matter if it’s to go kayaking
in Chile, to visit Machu Picchu in Peru or to see a space
shuttle launch.
Generally, Mary always does things her own way.
Aidan is a bright, energetic 8-year old, who also put in part
of the living room floor.
This is the story of a house and its creator. The New York home of Mary Richardson Kennedy, architectural designer, environmentalist and
whitewater guide and paddler, forms a natural expression of her character and values.
Welcome to the “Kennedy Green House Project”.
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“I wanted the house to be indicative of our beliefs, to show that
we practice what we preach.”
This is evident in the home’s floor plan: it accommodates
rollerblading. The children are the center of the household.
Conor, Kyra, Finn, Aidan, their cousins and friends roam
the house at all hours. And even though the rooms are
full of valuable furniture and mementos, when something
gets broken in an impromptu swordfight or indoor football
match, it’s mainly shrugged off as the price of having
kids. Mary grew up in large but close-knit Irish Catholic
family, so that’s no surprise.
The kitchen is big but
every square inch of it is used,
because there are constantly
people coming and going and
various relatives and family
members dropping in. “There’s
an old Irish custom of setting an
extra plate for dinner, because
you never know who’s coming
by!”, Mary explains. There’s
never a dull moment; someone
needs a ride to the train station;
Mary’s assistant fields calls from
subcontractors and friends;
people come by to see the house
and vacation trips are planned.
The room next to the kitchen
houses an eclectic mix of animal
bones, photos, prints and bird
decoys, evincing a fascination
with natural and political history that enlivens the whole
home. Moving upstairs, you come face to face with another
distinct collection. Along the corridor hang pictures
and autographs of every American president, even with
personal letters from some of them. Also on the landing
is the kids’ library. They all love to read, but since books
gather dust they’re not kept in the kids’ bedrooms.
One of the home’s distinguishing features is natural
light in every room. Not only from the windows but also
from solar tubes that let sunlight in through the roof –
even in the closets! The master bedroom, set in a corner,
doesn’t need any extra light with its vast windows. The
walls are a creamy, yellowish hue, from a special paint
that contains no harmful compounds. This non-toxic
paint is also used in the kids’ rooms and throughout
the house. Energetic junior Aidan’s room is light blue
and filled with toys whereas middle brother Finn’s is
green, with furniture designed by Mary, and a stunning
headboard for his bed made from
Vermont barn board. Across
the hall, Kyra’s room is pink
and she has reupholstered her
baby furniture with removable
fabric so she can continue to
enjoy it while preserving it for
her own future kids. Teenager
Conor explains that he was
very quick to decorate his
room himself, to give it his
own style. Luckily his decorating
taste is not a radical departure
from the rest of the house.
With beautiful materials,
superb craftsmanship and more
than a little resourcefulness,
this has become one of the few
traditional brick houses that
has merited a LEED (Leader-
ship in Energy and Environ-
mental Design) certification. Every day, Mary has visitors
coming by to see what she’s done, like the state-of-the-
art solar panels on the roof blending seamlessly with
the 100-year-old roof slates. “The house is a teaching
tool, there to inspire people, I hope. But it is also my
home, so I want it to last for seven generations”, Mary
concludes. It had to be a special building to house seven
more generations of Kennedys playing, collecting and
being in the public eye. This one is uniquely designed
to do just that.
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“The whole project was aboutworking through the unknown, coming
up with fresh new solutions.”
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“Everybody who signed on to the projectunderstood that we were going to do things
a little bit differently.”
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“I wanted to build something thatwas really sturdy and durable and would
last seven generations.”
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