You can’t miss it. The eye-catching home, located on a twisting road leading to Chattanooga’s Signal Mountain, has been attracting gawkers from around the world since it first “landed” there in 1970. The mountainside house is built to resemble a flying saucer and was inspired by the original “Star Trek” series.
The circular structure, which was considered ultramodern when it was built nearly four decades ago, is ringed with small square windows and directional lights and perched on six “landing gear” legs. It has multiple levels, three bedrooms, two baths and an entrance staircase that retracts with the push of a button.
And now it can all be yours… for the right price.
The home is currently being auctioned off on eBay. (The highest bid is $150,000 and the auction ends next week.) While the house’s shape might be unique the home can’t be marketed as one-of-a-kind because similar flying saucer designs have since sprouted up in Florida, Connecticut and California.
Local architects say homes built in the shape of flying saucers started popping up about the time of the moon landings. Apparently, people got caught up in the excitement and wanted one of their own—-if not to travel in at least one to live in.
The Chattanooga home that is up for sale looks sort of like two white Frisbees pasted together, which of course lends itself to some interior decorating challenges. According to the realtor who put up the home, the curve of the exterior creates a sloping ceiling and short side walls. On the upside the home comes equipped with a massive curved bar and a custom bathtub.
And lest you think this home is one of the prefabricated and movable UFO-shaped structures, known as Futuro houses, designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968, think again. The realtor says the Chattanooga home was built by the late Curtis W. King and is much larger than the prefabricated models and offers more updated amenities inside.
I’ve seen pictures of the home and it really looks like a spaceship ready to take off. I’m not sure I would tailor my family’s vacation around visiting it, let alone drop a couple hundred grand to purchase it, but if I were in the area I would certainly drive by it.
Have you seen the flying saucer home?
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