Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 178

Home Guide Chicago (Tribune Saturday, August 31, 1974 i BAIL The octagonal "tree house'' designed oy Barton Brady has been built to take advantage of mountain terrain hi Boone, N. C. I above 1 and rolling, wooded countryside near the Mississippi River outside Galena, III. right. Getaway 'tree house' goes anywhere Optional decks above extend the functions of the "tree house," which is supported by trusses that branch from a central core of concrete and steel.

The prefabricated home can be purcJiased for do-it-yourself construction, which takes six people two to three weeks. It also can be purchased built and completely furnished, as shown below, at The Galena Territory development by Branigar. the Galena Territory. The Territory is a second home-recreational land community Branigar is developing 5 miles east of Galena near the Mississippi River. There, Branigar calls its Bartoli-Brady tree houses Ridge Toppers and built them primarily to demonstrate homes can be built without disturbing northwestern Illinois' rolling terrain, molded many thousands of years ago by Ice Age glaciers.

Bartoli himself walked the land and selected what he felt were, appropriate locations, "leaving the land just about the way we found it. A Ridge Topper at Galena can be purchased for $37,550, which would include complete construction and furnishings right down to pots and pans and dishes. Land, at additional cost, is available at the Galena Territory in sites ranging upward from one-half acre. FOR DO-IT-YOURSELF construction at the Galena Territory or elsewhere, tie tree house basic package price is $16,327, excluding options. A six-person team could complete the home in two to three weeks.

There is one tree house, however, that Bartoli says "never will be for sale," and that Is his own. After moving east and living in one for two years in the North Carolina mountains, he has settled in another in Winston-Salem, N. C. It is his year-round home, and when guests visit they are treated to a stay in a mini-tree house nearby. For further information on the tree house, write to Bartoli Brady Enterprises, P.

0. Box 5495, Winston-Salem, N. C. 27103. For information on the Galena Territory, write to Branigar, 814 Commerce Drive, Oak Brook, 111.

6052L homes. The trip east, however, convinced him of the potential for a prefabricated vacation bouse. "I saw a lot of resort land development in North Carolina during that trip," Bartoli recalls. "But in order to build, developers were leveling or otherwise changing the land, and that bothered me. Even those who were trying to be sensitive to the land seemed to be falling short." TO DESIGN a home that could be built without disturbing the land so much, Bartoli joined with Burl Brady, a native of Salisbury, N.

who had been employed in Bartoii's Inglewood, office while completing his architectural degree at the University of Southern California. By September, the tree house had been born, and in the six years since, land from Florida to Wisconsin and Hawaii has been forested with the design. A Tree House Village is underway at Disneyworld in a densely wooded area Bartoli is "determined to leave undisturbed," and there are similar "highly environmentally-conscious projects" already completed in Atlanta and Hilton Head Island, S. C. One of the reasons the homes can be built with so little disruption of surrounding land is that the prefabricated parts are light enough and small enough so people can carry them to sites including those that would be inaccessible to ordinary construction and assemble them with hand tools.

Parts for the entire home can be delivered in one truck load. IN ILLINOIS, the portability of the home and the fact that its construction would minimize wear and tear on the land led the Branigar Organization to build nine of the homes in By Ellen Eshbach SECOND HOMES and vacation cabins have taken many forms in recent years as more people have found the leisure time that creates a market for such homes. The A-frame, of course, is classic, but a variety of modular cube structures, glass boxes, and slant-roofed, cantilevered-deck dwellings also dot Lake Michigan's shores and can be found in lake and mountain resort communities across the country. Still another unusually-shaped home recently sprouted in Illinois. Dubbed the "tree house" by its architect, North Carolina-based Guy Bartoli, the home takes its name not only from its appearance a central core from which shoot supporting branches but from the fact that, like a tree, it can be planted on just about any type of terrain and look as tho it belongs.

IN ABOUT 1,000 square feet, the prefabricated home contains two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, two baths, a laundry room, and storage space all suspended in an octagonal shape that sits atop a core anchored in concrete and steel. The floor and ceiling each are supported by eight trusses, and because the walls bear no load, they can be less than two inches thick or almost entirely glass. The home might never have been created had not Bartoli decided on a vacation in the North Carolina mountains back in the spring of 1968. Having spent 20 years in California as an architect, Bartoli already was interested in prefabricated construction of mf The Greenwood: a uniquely styled three bedroom two-story home with vaulted celling In the living room and attached two-car garage. Master bedroom features dressing, room and private entrance to full bath.

Cheery, eat-in kitchen with sliding glass doors opens onto a privacy-lenced backyard. The Eastwood: a three or four-bedroom bl-level home wKh attached one-car garage, distinctively styled with mid-level entrance foyer and terrace off the living room. Large upper level kitchen features a breakfast deck. The Fairmont: a spacious three-bedroom two-story home with finished family room and attached one-car garage. The master bedroom features a huge, walk-in closet and private entrance to the full bath.

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