Tag Archives: underground homes


Keep Your “Cool” Underground

Think living underground is dark, damp and cramped? Consider:
underground-homes underground-house

The Pyramid Hill House
This 7,000-square-foot home, located in the hills of Ohio, was built underground in 1989 on the estate of lawyer Harry Wilks and capped with a glass pyramid to flood the sunken great room with light. The ceiling is supported by masonry block piers that create alcoves in each corner of the room — perfect for tucking away the kitchen, library, TVs, etc. Wilks, now 83, recently added a public Museum of Ancient Sculpture to his estate. “I enjoy living here so much,” he said in a recent interview with the Business Courier.

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Coober Pedy Underground Homes
Most of the residents of this town in South Australia live underground in refurbished old opal mines, mostly to stay cool — temperatures are so scorching they can’t even grow grass on the golf course! One of the hand-dug homes, built by Faye Nayler and a friend, is open to the public. According to Outback-Australia-Travel-Secrets.com, the subterranean home boasts a wine cellar, a billiard room and swimming pool!

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Forestiere Underground Gardens
This historical site in Fresno, California, is the lifelong work of Sicilian immigrant Baldassare Forestiere, who began building his underground refuge in 1906. Before he died 40 years later, he had built a 10-acre underground oasis, spread over three levels, that included living quarters and beautiful gardens featuring fruit-bearing trees and grapevines. According to the Forestiere Historical Center, his unique home included a parlour with fireplace, a summer and a winter bedroom, and a courtyard with a bath and a fish pond.

What are “must-haves” in the underground home of your dreams?