Euclid House

Euclid House shifted consciousness about living modern, comfortably, and sustainably within a modest footprint and budget.

LGA founding partners Janna Levitt and Dean Goodman envisioned their 1,600ft² house on a standard downtown mid-block lot as a prototype for sustainable urban living. Constructed in protest to the neo-historical “mcmansions” of the day, Euclid House is unapologetically contemporary, and yet it quietly conforms to the historic streetscape in scale, setback and massing.

12-foot ceilings and sweeping views to the outdoors expand the modest open-plan main floor, and the interiors were pre-designed with plenty of flexibility for both day-to-day and long-term living. For example, the den doubles as a guest room, the dining table is also a home office, and the basement suite, originally occupied by the couple’s teenaged children, was easily and inexpensively converted into a self-contained, two-bedroom rental unit once they left home. The modestly scaled principal bedroom and unembellished amenities eliminate excess space and promote engagement with the rest of the household and the city beyond.

The house models an array of practical sustainable features. For example, it was built without air conditioning, and instead uses large sliding doors and operable skylights to maximize both cross ventilation and daylight. Other passive strategies — all unusual at the time of construction — include concrete floors with radiant floor heating and a high-efficiency ‘on demand’ combined hot water system.