Baer House preservation guide

Estate context and urgency

Steve Baer died in May 2024 (confirmed by both the Corrales Comment obituary and the Amherst College memorial, re-verified 2026-07-18). Holly Baer died February 23, 2026, after battling Alzheimer’s disease, per a private family communication since redacted from this archive (see Holly Baer for the full sourcing history, including two earlier incorrect passes in this KB that first claimed she died in 2025, then walked that back to “very likely still alive”). Both original owners are now gone. Their son Jose Baer is the executor of the combined estate. The Baer House in Corrales, New Mexico — built 1971, still standing and photographed in working condition as recently as June 20, 2015 (EXIF-dated aerial roof photo; the archive’s other five house photographs are undated, estimated circa 2009) — was likely available for sale as of this writing; the current market/estate status has not been re-checked since 2026-05-13 and should be confirmed before acting on the priorities below. Holly’s death in February 2026 — after Jose had already been sole executor of Steve’s estate for nearly two years — may itself affect the estate timeline; this is worth confirming directly rather than assumed.

With both original owners gone, Jose Baer — now a Solar Fools member, land manager at Naturion, and owner of Oso Ag, LLC — holds executor authority over the combined estate. The Solar Fools group is working directly with Jose on the archive and preservation questions. That collaboration puts the team in a position to act on the priorities below without the cold-start problem most preservation efforts face.

What the house is

The Baer House is a cluster of eleven connected zomes — zone-dome polyhedra — built by Steve Baer in Corrales, New Mexico in 1971–1972. At roughly 1,900 square feet (185 m²), with walls of adobe brick clad in aluminum on the exterior, it was the first full-scale testbed for every major Zomeworks invention: the DrumWall thermal mass system, the Skylid® insulated louvers, and the Sunbender® reflector/shade panels (physical facts per the compiled Baer House article, sourced from SAH Archipedia and Hidden Architecture). The Cool Cell and Double Play product lines that Zomeworks developed through the 1990s and 2000s are refinements of ideas that first ran here.

The house has heated and cooled itself using only sunlight, water, and the night sky for 55 years. That fact — a passive solar system in continuous operation since 1971 — is the single strongest argument for its preservation.

The 2025 Kayatekin paper (ICON: Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology, vol. 30, no. 2) establishes the house in the academic record as the physical origin of a significant and overlooked chapter of American engineering history, rooted in the New Communalist counterculture and tracing forward to 21st-century passive thermal systems.

What must be preserved

The house is not primarily significant as a residence. It is a working demonstration. The following elements must be preserved as a functional unit, not just as artifacts:

Structure

The zome cluster — multiple connected triacontahedra. Triangulated aluminum roofline intact in the June 2015 aerial photograph. No other structure of this scale and age demonstrates zonohedra geometry in practice.
Weathered wood north siding and sharp aluminum roofline.
South-facing polycarbonate glazing panels with prop rods — the collection zone.

Systems (must remain functional)

DrumWall — 25 white plastic drums per room (guest room and living room), stacked in the south-facing wall. Each drum holds 450 lbs of water. The current plastic drums replaced the original leaking steel drums circa 1991. Baer’s own 1983 measurements (5:30 AM, August 23) recorded drum temperatures of 76.1°F in the guest room and 74.5°F in the living room against a 62°F ambient — a single night-air cooling measurement, not a seasonal average (per the compiled Baer House article, citing “Cooling with Night Air,” SUNPAPER 1984). Operating since 1971.
Skylid® louvers — freon-actuated insulated louvers beneath south-facing skylights. US Patent 3,884,414. Operating since 1973. The stained glass panel in photographs is set into a Skylid skylight opening.
Sunbender® shade/reflector on outbuilding — horizontal aluminum reflector directs winter sun inward; panels prop open for summer ventilation. Documents the Sunbender® product line in original form.

Documentation before transfer The systems must be commissioned and measured before any change of ownership. A passive solar building that has been operating for 55 years contains performance data simply by continuing to function. At minimum: IR thermometer surface measurements across seasons, temperature logging through a full seasonal cycle, written inventory of all Skylid canisters and DrumWall drums with condition assessment. This data has independent value regardless of ownership outcome.

Significance arguments (for funders and regulators)

National Register of Historic Places eligibility

The house likely qualifies under two criteria:

Criterion A — associated with broad patterns of history: the New Communalist counterculture, the 1970s passive solar movement, and the independent inventor tradition in American technology. The Kayatekin paper provides peer-reviewed scholarly grounding.
Criterion C — embodies distinctive construction methods: zonohedra geometry, passive thermal systems, counterculture vernacular building. No comparable surviving structure exists.

A National Register listing does not require ownership; the nomination can proceed independently. Once listed, demolition becomes politically difficult and federal rehabilitation tax credits apply to eligible work.

The 55-year operation argument

A passive solar house still performing without mechanical systems after five and a half decades is not just architecture — it is empirical proof. The building is a running experiment. Its significance grows with every year it continues to function. Framing it this way to funders converts an old house into an ongoing scientific demonstration.

The academic record

The Kayatekin paper establishes the house in international scholarship. That 2025 publication — timed just after Baer’s death — means the scholarly case is already made. Preservation advocates can cite it directly.

Potential purchasers and stewards

Architecture and historic preservation

Docomomo US — Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement. The Baer House is directly within their scope: 1971, coherent modern design philosophy, innovative technology, significant figure. A Mountain West chapter affiliate exists. Unlikely to be a direct purchaser but critical for establishing significance and unlocking other networks.

National Trust for Historic Preservation — Denver field office covers New Mexico. The Trust’s Preservation Action Fund makes emergency loans for at-risk properties. The Trust also holds preservation easements as a long-term protection mechanism on properties it does not own.

New Mexico Historic Preservation Division (SHPO) — Administers the National Register process, provides survey funding, and controls state historic tax credits. Early engagement is essential — a SHPO determination of eligibility strengthens every other funding application.

Society of Architectural Historians — Endorsement carries weight with funders and regulators. Do not own properties but their recognition is valuable.

Academic institutions

University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning — The strongest candidate. Corrales is 15 miles from campus. UNM has existing passive solar research connections and the NM passive solar community as a natural constituency. A field research station or living laboratory for passive systems is a genuine academic asset with grant potential.

Contact: Director of Architecture; Environmental Design faculty. The pitch: a 55-year passive solar demonstration available for continuous monitoring, student research, and public education — with grant eligibility through National Register listing.

University of Colorado Boulder — Drop City was near Trinidad, CO; the counterculture architecture thread connects. CU’s environmental design and ATLAS programs could make a case for a research partnership if not direct acquisition.

New Mexico State University — College of Engineering has applied energy research programs. Less obvious fit than UNM but NMSU has a New Mexico-focused mandate.

Solar and sustainability organizations

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) — Basalt, CO. RMI’s campus demonstrates passive solar design; they have the institutional sophistication to understand the significance and the donor relationships to act. Strongest non-academic institutional candidate outside New Mexico.

American Solar Energy Society (ASES) — Boulder, CO. The Baer House is the physical origin of ASES’s most technically rigorous lineage. Policy and advocacy capacity; limited property acquisition history but useful for endorsement and donor network.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) — Golden, CO. Federal lab with a mandate to advance renewable energy. Less likely to purchase directly but useful as a source of technical assessment, documentation funding, and federal grant partnerships.

Solar Fools network — The most proximate steward candidates. Bruce W. Davis and Karen Terry understand every system in the house and have direct relationships in Albuquerque. They may not have acquisition capital independently but could serve as:

Technical advisors and stewards under any ownership structure
Board members of a preservation nonprofit
Leads to sympathetic private buyers

Zomeworks Corporation — Zomeworks as it existed under the Baers no longer exists. The company passed to Benjamin Rodefer following Steve Baer’s death; the zomeworks.com R&D pages remained online as of July 2026 describing Double Play structures and the cargo-container test, but institutional knowledge and staff continuity from the Baer era are not confirmed (per the compiled Benjamin Rodefer and Zomeworks articles). The Solar Fools network (Bruce Davis, Karen Terry) are more reliable contacts for system expertise.

Government and philanthropic

Village of Corrales — A landmark designation by the Village provides some protection without requiring acquisition and costs the estate nothing. Corrales has a historic preservation ordinance. Village engagement also signals local political support to state and federal funders.

New Mexico Community Foundation — Has capacity to hold conservation easements and could serve as an intermediary vehicle.

Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts (Chicago) — Has funded documentation and preservation of architecturally significant structures. A long shot for acquisition but realistic for documentation funding.

Aga Khan Trust for Culture — Funds documentation of culturally significant vernacular buildings. Worth approaching for a documentation grant regardless of ownership outcome.

Acquisition structures

Option 1: Preservation easement, family or private ownership retained (preferred starting point)

Jose Baer or a subsequent buyer retains ownership and continues use. A preservation organization (National Trust, New Mexico Land Conservancy, or a purpose-created nonprofit) holds a structural and systems easement requiring: maintenance of the zome cluster, DrumWall, and Skylid systems in working order; prohibition on demolition or incompatible alteration; public access for research purposes. The easement runs with the land in perpetuity and survives any future sale.

Advantages: Lowest cost, lowest disruption, most likely to be acceptable to Jose as executor. The estate receives full market value from any sale; the easement travels with the deed.

Option 2: 501(c)(3) acquisition as living demonstration

A purpose-created or existing nonprofit acquires the property for use as a passive solar demonstration and research facility. Guided visits, student research, continuous system monitoring.

Requires: Nonprofit vehicle (existing or new), acquisition capital at market rate for a Corrales residential property, operating budget. Realistic funders: Heising-Simons Foundation (climate focus), Kendeda Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, NREL demonstration project funding, UNM research partnership funding.

Option 3: Academic institution acquisition

UNM or another institution acquires the property as a field research station.

Requires: Institutional commitment at dean or provost level. The house would need insurance assessment, ADA review, and compatibility with institutional property requirements. The pitch: ongoing grant eligibility, student research access, and a unique 55-year passive solar data set.

Option 4: Private purchase with deed restrictions

A sympathetic private buyer — architect, preservationist, or solar advocate — purchases under deed restrictions requiring preservation of the zome structure and thermal systems. Less reliable long-term than an institutional easement, but faster and simpler. The Solar Fools network may know candidates.

Option 5: Jose Baer as preservation partner

Jose retains the property under a family foundation vehicle with a mission of continuing his parents’ work. The foundation accepts tax-deductible donations, leases the property for research access, and holds a board that includes Solar Fools members and preservation professionals. This keeps the house in the family while providing institutional structure for its maintenance and public benefit.

Immediate actions, in order

1. Engage UNM Architecture and the Village of Corrales simultaneously A joint expression of interest from an academic institution and the local government carries more weight in preservation planning than any single party. Either can move quickly; together they create institutional momentum.

2. Commission a National Register nomination A professional historian or preservation consultant can prepare this for ~$5,000–15,000. Does not require ownership. Once listed, the property’s significance is in the federal record permanently and demolition becomes politically costly.

3. Document the systems in operating condition IR thermometer measurements, temperature logging through a seasonal cycle, Skylid canister inventory and condition, DrumWall drum count and condition. This documentation has independent value and demonstrates serious intent to Jose.

4. Contact Docomomo US Mountain West Their formal identification process and endorsement unlocks preservation networks nationally and strengthens a National Register case.

The case in one paragraph

The Baer House in Corrales, New Mexico is the physical origin of American passive solar architecture’s most technically rigorous lineage. Built in 1971 by Steve Baer — who died in May 2024, followed by his wife Holly in February 2026 (see estate context above for the sourcing) — it has been continuously heating and cooling itself using only sunlight, water, and the night sky for 55 years. The DrumWall, the Skylid louvers, and the Sunbender reflectors were all invented and first tested here. The 2025 Kayatekin paper in ICON establishes the house in international scholarship. Their son Jose Baer, now a Solar Fools member, is working with the group on preservation and archive questions.