Grass-covered dome duplex in Florida

The hills have eyes…

…and brow bones too, if you want to get anatomical.

There is a house under there - buried beneath the undulating mounds. Actually, it is a duplex.

From the exterior, it appears to be a feature on a golf course. Located in sunny Florida, this earth-covered home is currently for sale for $1.2 million.

This is where you would park your car(s):

This Atlantic Beach home on the northeastern coast of Florida was built in 1975.

It is actually a divided duplex with each unit housing 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom – each with about 750 square feet of living space.

Come on down…

The dome duplex is still owned by its original builder/designer architect William Morgan.

It is made from two concrete domes dug into the side of a sand dune.

The architect likens his creation to a “bomb shelter”, according to a 2011 Zillow.com article.

And indeed, it does look like a secure spot to weather the winds and rain of a hurricane. The thing I would be worried about would be a storm surge and the resulting flooding!

I can just imagine water rushing down those stairs…

Because of its unique form and layout, the dome duplex has been having trouble finding the right buyer. It has been listed since 2009 and has suffered several price reductions. (And I say “suffered” because as a homeowner who currently has a house for sale, I can tell you that it is truly painful and demoralizing each time the price is cut.)

According to the Zillow article, each of the apartments is currently rented out but the new owner can decide whether to continue using it as an investment property or whether to convert it to a single-family dwelling.

It just needs to find the right buyer.

If you’ve ever felt like nesting snugly under the earth like a gopher (or prairie dog) then this house has you covered [funny pun!].

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Sources:

William Morgan Architects

Grass Dome Home in Florida

Trulia listing

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*Update on my house*

It has been a while since I have given you an update on my old house which is for sale.

After two months of complete cricket-chirping silence, things are starting to pick up again! People are starting to clean out the flyer box and knock at my front door wondering if they could just have a quick peek inside. There were even 3 showings this week!

But alas, I have come to the realization that this is the house that everybody loves, but nobody wants to buy. 

So I won’t get my hopes up too high. But it is nice to see people showing interest again.

IN OTHER NEWS…

My computer completely crashed on Thursday and I lost everything on it. The damn thing has been on the fritz for a long time, making it nearly impossible to do any work on it. So I went and bought a new computer and am now starting from scratch again. Which is like having a newborn baby, in a sense. Kind of a blank slate, but LOTS of work getting everything set up.