Built between 1970 and 1972 for attorney-artist couple Robert and Marguerite Antell, the Mushroom House is patterned after umbels of Queen Anne's Lace. Its brown color is intended to suggest mushrooms, and the structure is sited in a moderately-wooded ravine adjacent to Powder Mills Park. The house was designated a town landmark in 1989.
The house comprises four 80 ton pods that rest on reinforced concrete stems between 14 and 20 feet in height. These stems are three feet in diameter where they connect to the pods and five feet in diameter at the base. The sides of each pod's "cap" are completely windowed. One pod serves as the living and dining area, one serves as the kitchen, and two pods serve as sleeping areas. An additional "half pod" provides an open deck area. The house has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and covers 4,168 square feet.
The Mushroom House, also known as the Pod House, has been featured in HGTV's Offbeat America series and the Weird U.S. series of books. It sold for $729,000 in February 2012, after the original asking price of $1.1 million was not met.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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