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New American Home Combines 1920s Charm With 21st-Century Practicality

True to the mission of its 24-year history, The New American Home/2005 successfully addresses the changing dynamics of the contemporary housing scene and offers concepts and ideas that can be replicated in whole or in part, in any size house, in any price range and in any geographical region.

Along with Builder magazine, the home is sponsored by the National Council of the Housing Industry — the Supplier 100 of NAHB, and includes products and materials from many of its members.

The home has been built in Baldwin Park, a neo-traditional neighborhood in an urban setting just minutes from downtown Orlando. With its winding streets, common areas, tight architectural controls and mixed-use sites, Baldwin Park is an outstanding example of intelligent land use.

In its previous life, Baldwin Park was the Orlando Naval Training Station, a huge military facility that fell victim to the cost-cutting base closings of the late 1990s. Today, it is a unique community that combines the warmth and charm of “early” Orlando with the needs and demands of 21st-century living.

This year’s two-story New American Home was designed in a Mediterranean style that was extremely popular in Orlando in the late 1920s, but its strong point is its floor plan.

The structure offers spacious areas for everything from informal entertaining to very formal dining, and its wide hallways, oversized doors and elevator make it suitable for residents who are physically challenged.

A commodious guest suite — detached from the rest of the house and complete with a fireplace and private garden — is perfect for overnight visitors, but can also provide long-term private accommodations for a returning child, an aging parent or a live-in caregiver. The home's ‘C’-shaped plan opens to a walled courtyard that creates seclusion rarely found on tight lots in an urban subdivision.

The home’s built-in generator guarantees uninterrupted power in storm-prone settings. Its structured wiring system meets all of today’s needs and will handle future electronic demands. High-impact windows protect against the elements and, in tandem with a superb insulation system, provide state-of-the-art energy efficiency. Sensitive attention to interior finishes insures healthy indoor-air quality.

TNAH ’05 also has all of the bells and whistles of a world-class showcase house: a huge master suite, three “regular” bedrooms, a butler’s pantry, a three-car garage, library, computer niche, outdoor kitchen, pool, sauna, entertainment center and more.

As a laboratory home for the industry, The New American Home contains ideas, products and techniques that can be studied and copied by industry professionals and consumers.

For the first time in the history of TNAH, the major participants in the project — the builder (Goehring & Morgan), the architect (Bloodgood Sharp Buster), the interior designer (Saxon & Clark) and the developer (Baldwin Park) — are all members of the same local association — the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando.

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