-Carolann Fisher Linn-
A community that is the location of countless residences up to 5,000 square feet or more, will now also provide short-term holiday rental houses averaging 250 square feet. A Tiny House Village is coming to Ellicottville.
Located near (but not on) the base of HoliMont, an 11-unit development is taking shape on one acre of land along Route 242. These units, which contain a kitchenette, bedroom, washer/dryer, and bath/shower, will rent for multiple days (no one-night rentals will be available).
The houses may be tiny but the $2.9 million price tag for the project doesn’t surprise people familiar with what the cost of doing business is in this area. Buffalo attorney, Robert Carbone and his partners are leading the development team. Construction is being done by Buffalo Construction Consultants; the architectural firm is Dean Architects PLLC, Walden Avenue, Depew whose portfolio is amazing. See https://www.deanarchitects.com/commercial. In a July article of Buffalo Business First, reporter James Fink reported “the units are patterned after {the} one’s project consultant Pat Ogiony from Forza Development LLC saw in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.” Per Buffalo Construction Consultants FB page, “Construction is scheduled for completion by fall 2022 and the homes are expected to be available for booking by early 2023.”
Back in “the day” as Ellicottville was evolving from a blue-collar village/town to the tourist attraction it is today, residents up and down the streets of Ellicottville rented vacant rooms to skiers, often giving them kitchen, laundry and living room privileges. Ellicottville was not quite prepared for the “boom” that took place, beginning in the 80’s. This means of accommodating tourists appears to be a prelude to the idea of the tiny house. Back then, skiers were happy with the no frills, no responsibility of room renting with amenities. Forty some years later, Ellicottville once again will offer easy lodging for those who want to spend the end of a busy day in their slippers and snuggies, preparing a simple meal in the kitchenette, tossing their wet duds into the dryer and just relaxing. Ahhh!
History
From The Little House on the Prairie to David Thoreau’s 150 Square foot cottage and Marie Antoinette’s 255 square foot home, which are documented as history’s “tiny homes,” these teeny residences have been around for a long time. Their owners were known as advocates for the tiny house movement. The Sioux, Inuits and Samoans were likely some of the earliest originators of tiny abodes. We can go back further to 1000 BC, when the Mongolians used mobile “Yurts” (see Ellicottville Yurts on Airbnb.com) or “Gers.” 500 years later, Native Americans lived in small portable “tipis.” (Sorry, no tipis available for rent locally).
An interesting fact concerns the Dymaxion Deployment Units created by Buckminster Fuller. At 314 square feet, they were to serve as bomb shelters. They were way ahead of their time and did not make it onto the general market. However, we find at miu.edu, “Fuller’s later design breakthrough, the Geodesic Dome, did make its way into common use, but even now, is symbolic of a futuristic design concept that does not fit into the square, box-like aesthetic of the developed world. Perhaps it is finally time for the next generation of tiny homeowners to reexamine the design breakthroughs of one of the 20th century’s design visionaries.”
Aside from Fuller, others worked with the concept of tiny houses. French architect, Jean Prouvé developed 64 square foot units to be used as emergency housing for the 1906 San Francisco earthquake survivors. What was old is new again. Perhaps this tiny house trend will find its way into communities that are desperate for affordable housing.
“Yes! Magazine” contributor Erika Lundahl, in February 2014, shared the story about 125 volunteers building six 16X20-foot houses (see their story at secondwindcottages.org) for chronically homeless men, 100 miles from EVL in Newfield. There are now 18. Said she: “The project is part of a national movement of tiny-house villages, an alternative approach to housing the homeless that’s beginning to catch the interest of national advocates and government housing officials alike.”
Hopefully, the tiny houses rented in Ellicottville will inspire visitors to take the idea to their communities and encourage their local governments to consider building them as much needed alternative housing.