Knox Heritage is currently renovating a victorian home in the Fort Sanders area at 1101 Victorian Way with Sustainable Future installing solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems. 

One funny coincidence is that this home was the Energy House during the 1982 World's Fair and now is finding a second (or third, or forth) life as the Green House. The project's goal is to be a Gold LEED certified historical building. Knox Heritage salvaged doors, flooring, and trim, recycling materials that would have otherwise been discarded and used them to restore the Victorian Character of the home. Old recycled materials and new technology seamlessly integrate throughout the home in a variety of ways.

The Summer Newsletter from Knox Heritage describes the project in further detail.

For those of you that also live in a historic home and would like some information on weatherization,
check out this DOE publication:

 Energy Performance Techniques and Technologies: Preserving Historic Homes.

Read more about the Green House below in a Knox News article.

Knox Heritage house gets 'green' update

By Amy McRary Sunday, July 4, 2010

Modern meets Victorian in Knox Heritage's latest restoration project, a two-story, four- bedroom vintage house with energy-saving technology.

Knox Heritage hopes energy measures installed in the 1888 structure earn the property LEED for Homes certification. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an international certification system that measures a building's sustainable practices like energy and water efficiency.

The house sits on a short street renamed Victorian Way but was formerly Laurel Avenue. Knox Heritage was given the vacant, rundown building in May 2009 by World's Fair Park developers Cardinal Development of Knoxville and Kinsey Probasco Hays of Chattanooga. When renovation is complete the property will be offered for sale at market value, said Knox Heritage Executive Director Kim Trent.

The house's first owner is believed to have been Church Street Methodist pastor the Rev. Richard G. Waterhouse. Dozens of people lived in the home through the decades; many only for a year or two. In 1937 the building was turned into apartments. In 1982, it got new, temporary life as the "energy house" at the 1982 World's Fair. It was the largest of seven Victorian homes along 11th Street and Laurel Avenue used for the park; it now sits on the edge of the Fort Kid playground.

Later the building was used by a children' theater company and an art gallery. In recent years it fell into disrepair, with leaks in its roof and bird nests in its walls. The Knox Heritage renovation began after the structure was stripped to its wall studs.

The renovation blends modern energy-saving measures with vintage, recycled elements. Knox Heritage partnered with the City of Knoxville's Solar America program to install two solar energy devices to generate electricity and hot water. Knoxville was one of 25 cities awarded the grant by the U.S. Department of Energy. Solar- generating film is hidden on the building's standing seam metal roof. "No one in an historic home wants solar panels on their roof," says Trent.

Other measures include foam insulation around new energy-efficient windows, R-38 insulation in the attic and cellulose insulation in walls. Native and edible plants will be planted in the yard. A surprise find - a long-covered well - will supply water for the

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory will monitor the house's energy use for a year as part of a regional study.

Open houses and demonstrations will highlight the marriage of vintage architecture and green technology. 

"Most people couldn't do all of this, but they could incorporate some pieces into their homes," Trent says.

A hundred years of change left the house nearly void of original detail. Left is a two- story brick fireplace that would have burned coal and one roof gable. So materials from other properties are being used. Wooden floors come from a Cumberland Avenue home demolished for the University of Tennessee's Howard Baker Center for Public Policy. Doors and trim are from downtown Knoxville's renovated Glencoe and Elliott buildings. Kitchen countertops are slate repurposed from chalkboards once used at Vine Middle School.

In addition to the solar grant, project funding comes from the 1772 Foundation of Connecticut, Knox Heritage's J. Allen Smith Endangered Properties Fund, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Clayton Bank and Trust.

Amy McRary may be reached at 865-342-6437.

(taken from knox news article that can be found here.)