Season’s greening
12/04/09HEATHER HAHN
Editor
Architects Jennifer Herron and Jeff Horton have designed a home that’s green even without decking the halls with garlands.
The couple, members of Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church in Little Rock, will open their new house to the public and showcase its energy-efficient innovations as part of the church’s sixth annual Christmas in the Quarter home tour at 2-5 p.m. Dec. 6. The tour also includes four houses originally built in the 1880s in the historic neighborhood that is home to the Governor’s Mansion. In addition, guests can explore the church, a Gothic Revival structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Herron and Horton are definitely the new kids on the block. The family’s sleek, ultra-modern office/studio/house on Spring Street was completed in October — just in time to be included in this year’s tour. All of the homes will be festooned with the splendor of the season.
“We really wanted to do it,” Herron said. “We like to support Quapaw Quarter missions and helping our community.”
Billed as “A Tour of Homes, A Taste of Christmas, A Touch of Music, A Sampling of Art,” the December event serves as one of Quapaw Quarter UMC’s biggest outreach activity and fundraiser of the year.
Thompson Murray, the congregation’s senior pastor, estimates that proceeds from the tour generate about 10 percent of the church’s budget.
Those funds help support not only church operations, but also the congregation’s downtown missions to the poor and homeless. The ministries include the Community Breakfast, which provides 150 meals each Sunday morning; Stone Soup, which serves dinner on Sunday afternoon; a food pantry that distributes groceries twice a month; and the recently started pet food ministry, which has 90 clients so far.
But as serious as the event’s purpose is, organizers hope that those that attend will have fun.
Some homes will have live Christmas music, and others will offer finger food and beverages. Two trolleys will carry visitors from house to house while strolling minstrels serenade them.“One of the joys of this is that it brings everyone in the church together,” said Mary Henry, the chair of this year’s event. “You don’t even have to ask twice for a volunteer. You’ve got people coming up to you offering to help.”
Among those who came forward were Herron and Horton, who are the only members with a house on this year’s tour.
While other homeowners plan to share their abodes’ history, Herron and Horton will talk about how their home will help hold down costs in the future.
The architects designed their 4,000-square-foot, three-bedroom house to take in as much natural light as possible with L.E.D. lighting providing additional illumination. All the kitchen appliances have received the federal government’s Energy Star rating, which means they use substantially less energy than conventional machines and cut down on greenhouse emissions. The house additionally saves on utility bills with geothermal ground source heating and cooling and well-insulated walls. In addition, the house’s metal roof is made of recyclable material.
The tour will highlight not just work architecture but works of art as well.
Henry said one of the goals for this year’s gathering is to call attention to the congregation’s HeARTwork ministry, which provides studio space inside the church to artists for minimal rents in exchange for community service or public art projects.
Eight HeARTwork artists plan to have their work on display and on sale during the tour. They also have agreed to bake pastries for visitors to snack on.
Among them are professional artists Charlie James and Lisa Claas-James. Charlie is a photographer and a painter of abstract works. His wife creates more naturalistic paintings of brilliantly colored moths and dragonflies.
The couple both talked about how excited they were to participate in the church’s Christmas festivities.
“I love this church,” she said. “If I don’t come over here every day, I miss it.”
Quapaw Quarter UMC, 1601 S. Louisiana St., will have its Christmas in the Quarter tour of new and restored homes from 2 to 5 p.m. Dec. 6. Buses will transport guests to each house. Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased on the day of the tour at 1:30 p.m. To buy tickets, call the church at (501) 375-1600.
