Tag Archives: mushroom house


Funny Looking Homes

No cookie-cutter houses here …

If architecture is the art and science of erecting buildings, what happens when you add imagination to the mix? Well, you get some pretty unusual — and funny-looking — homes. Which one of these would you like to live in?


The Haines Shoe House
This home is the stuff of fairy tales. Located in Hellam, Pennsylvania, it was built in 1948 by Col. Mahlon “Shoe Wizard” Haines as a sales gimmick to promote his shoe empire. It measures 48 feet long, 17 feet across at its widest and stands 25 feet tall. Inside, you’ll find a five-level home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. The new owners offer tours, where you can stop for an ice cream cone in the sole!


The Flintstone House
The locals call it The Flintstone House, but Faux Flintstone would be a better description. Designed by artist Norah Pierson, this polyurethane-foam creation blends into the sandstone cliffs in Lamy, New Mexico. For the camouflage about 10,000 pounds of foam was sprayed over conventional frame-and-cinder-block construction. Looks funny, but the foam helps control the temperature inside. Yabadabadoo!


The Half House
This tiny house at 302 Park Ave. in Charlevoix, Michigan, is the smallest of several Hobbit-like homes built by Earl Young beginning in the late 1930s. The whimsical residences, whose wavy overhanging shingled roofs give them the look of mushrooms, fit Young just right — the real estate developer was just 5-feet-4. The homes are hot sellers when they occasionally come on the market. Just don’t invite the basketball team over for dinner!