The Ghost Houses

The Ghost Houses project was not supposed to be possible. Building a new home, two units of affordable rental housing, and an office/studio on either side of a historically designated house that carries with it the Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Preservation on an urban site encumbered by suburban zoning requirements is not supposed to be possible – and everyone with any authority over the process told us as much. Yet, the project also had much going for it – the strengthening of a former streetcar neighborhood with its walkable and bikeable development patterns, compact land use, and easy links to the downtown and university; new investment in a part of that neighborhood that had not seen the renewed interest of other nearby areas; the directing of new development away from greenfield sites in a badly sprawling city; and the renovation of the existing house. Ultimately, it was the existing house and the memory of two others that allowed the project to proceed.