Last week in this column, I began a discussion about the issue of solar power as it concerns vintage homes. Can vintage homeowners install solar panels on landmarked/vintage homes and should they? The answer to the first part of this question covered last week is that nothing in the city of Monrovia’s preservation ordinances prevents a homeowner from doing so. That answers the “can” part of the question.
Here we tackle the second half of the question: should they? Let’s look at where we came from to give us some perspective. One hundred years ago, life was much simpler and electricity was in its infancy. In fact, many vintage homes were originally plumbed for gas lighting. These fixtures were readily and easily converted to electricity when it became available and were done so as gas fixtures were inherently dangerous to operate. Air conditioning was not yet available, so architects designed homes that helped mitigate the hot/humid conditions that exist in many parts of the country and allowed nature to do the work.
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