Alfredo House
Sensory & Appearance
Alfredo House tends to have dark colors built into the floor, lighter colors on the walls, and many accents that once were yellow but might now be tan or beige or a dull brown. Sometimes bright yellow will show up in a bit of colored glassware, or the trim on the doorknobs, as a memory of the founder's favorite emotional pick-me-up.
Architecture
The ground floor of Alfredo House occupies a roughly square footprint by linear measurement, but several features change the visual impression of this house's shape for any outside viewer that is not directly overhead.
Giving the greatest initial impression of complicated shape: the ridgeline for the roof runs north and south. The western slope of the roof is much steeper, encouraging rain to roll down quickly and winds to sweep up over the house without much resistance. Even the shingles on the western side tend to be higher in inclusions of mica and quartz: the original builders believed that a shinier roof would repel more summer heat without the expenses of annual post-storm-season maintenance. Vítězslav de Alfredo did express regret a few times that he had not been able to purchase a metal roof anyway, but his descendants like the look of the mixed-material terracotta shingles.
Once an approaching visitor can see more than the roof, they will note that the ground floor spreads wider in all directions than the upper story or the attic -- in fact, a secondary tier of terracotta skirting extends from the upper story's windows to shelter the ground floor rooms. Clever placement in the colors and shapes of the tiles used can fool most eyes into seeing a uniform shape all around, when the rectangular upper story is not centered in the true middle of the ground floor.
For that matter, the upper storey may match the standard approximately ten foot height of Freecities League dwelling space construction, but a cushion space of about a yard in thickness exists between any two floors. Vítězslav wanted as much soundproofing and thermal insulation built into his future home as modern technology could provide.
And of course, the surrounding land is not flat. In fact, while the ground slopes gently away from the north side to form the grasslands around Suncup Barn, it also slopes more steeply away from the north side of the house as one follows its walls southward. Windows on the south side of the ground floor have the equivalent of an upper storey's vantage point as they look toward the growing expanse of the Longgrass Plains.
History
This three-and-a-half storey house south of Oatman Canyon was built about one hundred years ago by Vítězslav de Alfredo, an experienced rancher who allegedly had cross-bred his first herd of cattle with a bison "borrowed" from the nearest Orisnuc sauri. Vítězslav never refuted the claim, nor did he confirm it, but his herd proved sturdy enough -- and ornery enough -- that his family prospered in an area where many ranch owners struggled.
Vítězslav's son Ludwig de Alfredo used his inherited funds to reinvest in Purgatory Gulch and then in nearby ranches. He built a silo much larger than any of the local experts predicted he could need. Ludwig said he wanted to have options for any potential poor growing season to come. His foresight turned out to be the difference between the decimation of a ranch's entire herd versus a few lean but tolerable years. By the time Ludwig was an old man, he expanded Alfredo Ranch multiple times: he bought out every neighboring ranch south of Oatman Canyon.
While Ludwig did make some internal renovations to Alfredo House, the basic shape of it remains as Vítězslav de Alfredo designed. Living quarters are on the upper floor, common spaces on the ground floor, and supplies for the harshest months of summer and winter are kept in the root cellar.
Type
House, Large
Parent Location
Included Locations
Environmental Effects
Because Alfredo House was constructed largely of dense stone and locally mixed adobe, it tends to be cooler in summer than a more traditionally built ranch house at one of the neighboring farms. Also the walls and floors are unusually thick, with many layers sandwiched together; the stairs might creak, but the floors mostly do not carry the sound of anyone walking on them unless that person really makes an effort to be loud.
Owning Organization
Related Report (Primary Locations)
