What a location.
What a house.
This unique remote California desert home has been off and on the market five or six times since 2002. The current asking price on the “Volcano House” is $650,000. When Curbed wrote about it in 2009 the asking price was $750,000.
Every room has an amazing view. You know, if you’re into barren desert landscapes.
Because that’s pretty much all you get.
As far as the eye can see.
It’s about a 50 minute drive to Barstow, the closest town of any significant size. This place certainly seems like it would make a sweet retreat for someone in Southern California.
If you’re craving more photos, here’s a great Flickr set of the Volcano House by Chapman Publications. Amusing Planet has an article with some more details about the home’s background.
Also, CNNMoney did a segment on the house a few years ago:
Finally, here’s a cool night timelapse video of the house:
The time-lapse says it all – the view is up, not down. Two of the other sources note the original owner’s interest in astronomy. This is a prime location for it, even if it’s not one for anything else. Except maybe training for a Mars mission. But I suppose that’s space oriented, too.
When not staring in awe at the night sky, there’s likely one constant thought – Shade? Shade! Window blinds finally appeared in the Flickr and Amusing Planet links, but they’re not very original or attractive. Also, no shade for the adjacent patios? Great for more star gazing but killer otherwise. And why no adjacent interactive water feature? A plunge pool or jacuzzi would be extremely welcome… with sufficient shade, of course. Supposedly the shallow trough surrounding much of the house is a “moat,” though it’s dry now. When full, it might provide evaporative cooling, but it underscores the need for, you guessed it, shade, this time from glare.
The home’s interior has enormous potential to be a real showstopper. The beams radiating from the central fireplace along with the wood ceilings are gorgeous, though the current interiors don’t do them justice. Some stylish updates to the kitchen and bathrooms would be nice, as well as some means of providing auditory privacy for the bedrooms; the partial height walls have to be a “party killer,” if you get my meaning. There’s also serious a need for some patio-scaping. Currently they both resemble the surrounding desert way too much.
Still, my top priority for sprucing up the place would be doing something with the guesthouse. UGH! Hideous doesn’t begin to cover it. It might be better just to start over from scratch. Being in an environmental armpit is no excuse for bad architecture. Good thing the main event is so darn cool, er… nifty.
Ahh… forgot to mention this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnpmetj66gw. It was up right after the CNN Money video when watched at YouTube. It explains who the guy in all the Flickr pictures is. Huell Howser did features of interest videos in California, as well as globally. He owned the house for a few years, but gave it to Chapman University before his death in 2013. Some of his travels are highlighted in the memorial video linked above.
Its got a lovely fieplace! Two, actually, if you count the one UNDERNEATH THE HOUSE!!!!