Photo: Zillow
This quirky Cincinnati home took 10 years to build.
When hippies retire among the waves of Baby Boomers, where do they
hang up their tie-dye? Because not everyone wants a condo on a golf
course in Hilton Head, or fits the Florida lifestyle where mall walking is a daily form of exercise to beat the heat and humidity.
Not that there is anything wrong with either of those, but perhaps
the answer for anti-establishment types is an off-beat home. Perhaps a
dwelling that can fit so seamlessly into the landscape, it’s tough to
tell it’s there.
Whether the brainchild of an artist, architect or just someone with a
penchant for unusual design, we rounded up some of the most unusual
examples of offbeat real estate, with homes that vary from a rotating
dome to a grass-covered dune.
Students from the University of Cincinnati helped build the home.
This groovy Cincinnati home for sale (exterior is at the top of the
page) took architect Terry Brown more than a decade to pull off. Brown
and students from the University of Cincinnati College of Design,
Architecture, Art and Planning sculpted the home from a variety of mixed
materials, including wood, colored glass. shell, and ceramic.
Mushroom Home
Location Pittsford, NY
This home can rotate 360 degrees in five minutes.
Photo: Zillow
This home for sale really turns heads — in more ways than one! Not only
is the structure an unusual dome shape, but the house itself actually
turns. All it takes is the press of a button and off this house spins on
a giant axle. Designed to take advantage of passive solar energy, the
New Paltz home can make a full 360-degree rotation in a span of five
minutes.
The grass-covered home includes two separate living spaces.
Photo: Zillow
Hate mowing the lawn? Then this house may not be for you. In addition
to the Atlantic Beach property having a grassy front yard, the entire
home is covered with the stuff! Built in 1975 by architect William
Morgan, the oceanfront dome home is actually a duplex, with two separate
living spaces, each with 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and 750 square feet of
living space. The home is two concrete shells dug into a sand dune,
“like giant sea shells in the sand dune,
this flower-inspired home recently sold for $799,000.
All Photos: Zillow
Actually, the home’s inspiration wasn’t mushrooms, but stems of Queen
Anne’s lace. The delicate flower’s underside gave a blueprint for the
five interconnected pods that make up this Pittsford home. The pods are
30 feet in diameter and weigh 80 tons. Two pods are sleeping areas, the
center pod contains the kitchen and sitting room and a fourth pod is a
living and dining area with a fireplace. The fifth smaller pod serves as
the deck. All together, the home has 4,168 square feet of highly unique
living space.
This 2,000-square-foot
home in W Berkeley gets its name from the massive eye-like window on its south side.
Finished in 1995 for only $250,000, this house is built to last: Its
walls are made of recycled Styrofoam and cement, which — coupled with
its rounded design — make it all but impervious to water, fire,
termites, and even earthquakes.
For sale: $3.5 million
Who would have guessed that the late Dick Clark loved unique architecture? The long-time TV host and mega producer's home is far from the Malibu's
typical mock-Mediterranean houses. Built to replicate Fred Flintstone’s
own prehistoric pad, the property sits on the bluffs above the Pacific
Ocean with 360-degree views of the Pacific Ocean, Boney Island, Channel
Island, the Serrano Valley and LA skyline.
Festus, MO
Not all cave living was created equal. And with over 15,000 square feet
of living space, modern glass windows, this cave home bears no
resemblance to the dank, dark spaces of our forebears. This place
combines modern finishes with the cave’s natural sandstone walls. Cool
in the summer and warm in the winter, the cave isn’t just a unique
dwelling; it’s naturally energy-efficient, too.
all photos, Zillow
I love looking at odd homes and just wondered where would I put the garden if I had the
Cave House??
"Happy Cinco de Mayo"
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