Urban Homesteading: The Integral Urban House

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In the middle of Berkeley, California, a 100-year old house was converted into a prime example of urban homesteading.
In the middle of Berkeley, California, a 100-year old house was converted into a prime example of urban homesteading.
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House resident Charles O'Loughlin inspects one of three wooden compost bins. The containers feature slatted sides, to allow easy removal of compost (which is ready to use after about three weeks of biodegradation).
House resident Charles O'Loughlin inspects one of three wooden compost bins. The containers feature slatted sides, to allow easy removal of compost (which is ready to use after about three weeks of biodegradation).
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The containerized rooftop garden. Proof positive that anyone, even apartment dwellers, can grow their own food!
The containerized rooftop garden. Proof positive that anyone, even apartment dwellers, can grow their own food!
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The IUH garden, as seen from the roof. Crops are sown in raised beds that recovered with an inch of compost.
The IUH garden, as seen from the roof. Crops are sown in raised beds that recovered with an inch of compost.
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Members of a Saturday afternoon tour group stop to admire the IUH solar collector.
Members of a Saturday afternoon tour group stop to admire the IUH solar collector.

For all the current talk about getting “back to the land” and becoming self-sufficient, darn few folks have taken the lead in showing urban residents–apartment dwellers and city homeowners–how they too can enjoy a more self-reliant way of life. One organization that is doing encouraging work in this area is the Farallones Institute of Berkeley, California. Here’s a report on just one of the Institute’s project: the conversion of a Victorian mansion into an urban homestead!

Away out here in Berkeley, California–in an aging semi-industrial neighborhood–an enthusiastic group of “doers” has come together to restore (and display to the public) a 100-year-old Victorian house. What’s so unusual about that? Nothing . . . except that the stately dwelling–now known as the Integral Urban House–has become one of the country’s most innovative and successful “urban homesteads”.

Half a dozen IUH residents grow their own fruits and vegetables, raise chickens, rabbits, and fish, recycle 90% of their wastes, solar heat their hot water, and conduct a variety of alternative technology experiments . . . all on a 1/8-acre city lot!

“The Integral Urban House exists,” explains house resident Charles O’Loughlin, “to serve as a model for a more ecologically sound urban habitat, and to provide urban dwellers with physical and conceptual tools for creating a more self-reliant lifestyle.” In other words, the IUH staffers want to show by example how city folk can “live better for less” . . . while doing a good deed for the planet at the same time.

A Mini-Ecosystem

  • Published on Nov 1, 1976
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