Here’s another one that’s less “looney” and more “lavish.”
Love the distinctive, unique shape of this home, as well as the finishes like the nice wood deck.
Is that basement just carved out of the rock below the house? Crazy.
Nice round second-story balcony, too.
Bonus: if kids get bored with the main house, they’ve got “Fort Apache” out back, complete with its own log wall.
Delightful!
I usually don’t like places like this, but I really like this place… for the most part. That’s a lot of glass to keep clean – and covered at night. There’s enough civilization that one should expect people to approach the house at night and watch you through those windows. It’s like living in a fishbowl. The polka-dotted sink in photo 21 is odd and is that an infinity mirror setup in photo 17? Otherwise, I could live here.
Wowee! Not just a beautiful home but a fantastic setting! I was not aware central Texas has such lush landscapes. I’d love to spend time there, more specifically in that house, which has the wide open interface-with-nature aspect I like. That is… if the humidity won’t zap me. I know Houston is famously humid, but what of this area? Anyone know?
I have a couple of concerns, but certainly not the design concept. First, the 1978 dome looks to be a fiberglass mix; I wonder, might it include asbestos? Newer studies find that when left undisturbed asbestos is fairly safe. (I think there may be coatings to put over it.) It’s the removal activity that releases so many dangerous particulates, to wit only federally licensed techs can do it. Hopefully, there’s no asbestos here.
Another item is the unique “cave.” The photo above shows a small arch that seems to open directly to the outdoors – at ground level… on a sloped property… that might experience flash floods… sending torrents of muddy water under my expensive billiards table… and possibly endangering the foundation… (Does that small arch have anything to do with the small dome-lettes seen below the entry deck in Pic 1?) If you look to the right on Pic 22 at the listing, you’ll see a wet area on the floor, presumably just below another small arch and possibly confirming my theory. If I were buying this place I’d want structural and hydraulic engineers to explain to me why – or why not – the current design is safe. I assume there’s more going on that we can’t see, given it was designed by a Lloyd Wright protege and has been standing since 1978.
One final question… What the heck is on the wall in Pic 13? I’m seeing an abstract representation of a Japanese demon, with a totally creepy face right in the middle…. That is gonna have to go before I move in.
@Frodo: The listing description states there is “extra gated parking.” Perhaps the gate is at the front of the property, near the street, thus preventing curious folks from wandering down to peer in your windows? Still doesn’t help with the cleaning, though. I’ll just assume they “have people” for that sort of thing.
I wondered if the polka dotted sink might be translucent, with some sort of special lighting beneath it, which would be kinda cool. As for the mirror, I think it’s just a whole-wall one, with the wall on the left. You can see its edge between the real green towel on the right and its reflection on the left. The thing I don’t care for is the just-sitting-out-in-the-open toilet, which is also just over the half wall as you come up the stairs. Um, no. (O_o)
@Frodo: Just found this. I gotchur infinity mirror righcheer… http://cheezburger.com/8281486336
You want infinity mirrors? Take a look at photo 24 in this listing: http://search.knightfrank.co.uk/ham140001 (and the agent photobomb…)
As for this listing, I thnk the polka dot sink seems to be clear dots on a frosted background. Look at photo 20 – especially the circles of light on the floor beneath the basins.
And the wet spot on the floor in photo 22 — it seems to me that’s an indoor/outdoor room. Perhaps it was just rain or splashing from a shower? Surely they wouldn’t be so careless as to photograph evidence of a leaky roof for a listing like this?
@Emerald63: Austin weather is extremely variable. August is regularly into the hundreds, humidity can be either low or high, depending on what just blew in from Colorado or the Gulf of Mexico. But it’s nothing like Houston in climate- or culture.
“at ground level… on a sloped property… that might experience flash floods…”
Yeah. The first thing I thought when seeing the top photo was, “This place is set right into the bottom of a wash- and that wash is there for a reason…”
@MsWildhack: Welcome aboard! That is some handsome home you linked us to!. At a whopping $81.5M, though, I will not, alas be moving in. *sigh* (At least not anytime soon…)
As for the puddle in Pic 22, you’re right – it’s possible someone who’d just used the pool dripped there, but it seems odd that someone would be using the pool at the same time the agent’s photographer is there taking pics. Possible, but odd.
I wasn’t considering a leaky roof, as this area is in the basement. But if the one arch (or lunette) and a possible mate is open to the outside, the result would be comparable to a leaky roof.
@Paradox: The ravine setting caught my attention, too, but it was when I got to pics of the billiards room that alarm bells went off. Another possibility I’d wondered about for the “domelettes” in Pic 1 is as entry housings for an under-house storm drainage system. I looked more closely at Pic 23 (the same billiards room shot shown above) and noted what looks like a piece of plexiglass about 18″ high and running the width of the back wall. If it didn’t look so makeshift, I would wonder if it fronted a sometimes waterfall, with water coming down the hillside, over the rock face, then down under the billiards room floor. A drainage system would still need some serious depth and length from this point on, though, as it would need to either go under or skirt the pool. My vote would be to skirt it, as going underneath something so massively heavy as a pool full of water is just asking for a collapsed drainage system if the ground ever shifts.
@Emerald63: I had wondered about the openness of the toilet too until I noticed that this might be the bathroom accessible through the den in photo 15. My guess is that there’s a bat tub back there given the positioning of the towels.