Projects
The Historic Hemingway House on Key West: a Cool Step Back in Time
The two-story residence was built in 1851 in the Spanish Colonial style, constructed of native limestone hewn from the grounds. When Hemingway and his wife, Pauline, purchased the home it was in poor shape, but the recognized its potential and appreciated the stately home’s grand architecture. The massive restoration and remodeling they undertook in the early 1930s turned the home into the National Historical Landmark visited by thousands of tourists annually.
Over the years, curators have carefully preserved and maintained the original architecture and the Hemingway family’s furnishings. But one issue constantly plagued the home: the intense heat and humidity of the Florida Keys. The climate, especially from July through September, made it unbearably hot inside the house. According to Dave Gonzales, longtime curator of the museum, the discomfort was so pronounced that at least two visitors a week would faint during tours.
Installing central air conditioning seemed out of the question, as it would require adding drop ceilings and soffits, which would diminish the home’s architectural integrity. Window units would be equally detrimental to the building’s character. Besides, notes Gonzales, the Key West Historic Architectural Review Committee would hardly be willing to approve such a project because of its negative impact on the building’s aesthetics.
Strategy
Gonzales turned to colleagues at the nearby Harry S. Truman Little White House—another historic property-turned-museum in Key West—whom he knew had successfully installed central air-conditioning without ripping out walls or lowering ceilings. Furthermore, the work had been done with the blessing of the local architectural committee as well as the National Park Service.
The Truman Little White House had installed the small-duct, high-velocity Unico System, known for its remarkable ability to remain mostly hidden from view. Unico’s flexible, tubular ducting can snake through crawl spaces and wall and ceiling cavities, places where traditional metal ducting doesn’t fit. The Unico System sounded like the right solution for the Hemingway Home.
Working with Unico engineers and a Miami HVAC contractor, Gonzales oversaw the installation process. He selected round room outlets made of red oak, in a stain that matched the home’s floors. He also came up with creative solutions such as hiding a return air box in a wooden cabinet that he retrofitted with louvered doors for air flow. The installer carved through the floor inside the cabinet for the intake air ducting.
Gonzales used the master bedroom closet on the second floor to house a small, vertical air handler. The intake air box was installed in the bathroom closet. Normally, it goes against building code to pull intake air through a bathroom, but this bathroom had no running water so inspectors approved it, after “some explanations and convincing,” says Gonzales.
Results
According to Gonzalez, the Unico System has been an ideal solution for the Hemingway Home & Museum. “The system performs great, and our utility bill hasn’t gone up as much as we thought it would by adding central air-conditioning,” he says.
The Unico System helps lower air-conditioning bills by removing 30 percent more humidity from the air than a conventional central air system does. This allows homeowners to set the thermostat a few degrees higher while still providing a comfortable temperature. Reduced humidity also aids in the preservation of the books, artifacts, and memorabilia displayed in the museum.
Gonzales points out that the Unico System operates quietly, which is important because the museum conducts guided tours for up to 25 people every 20 minutes. “The air conditioning doesn’t interfere at all—we can hardly hear it,” he says.
No one is fainting during tours anymore. Plus, the dozens of cats—descendants of Hemingway’s famed felines—roaming the house and grounds have a nice, comfortable place to inhabit. And if the temperature dips into the 40s or 50s on winter nights, the Unico System includes a heat pump to keep visitors—and cats—warm and cozy.
