This house was an interesting purchase for me. It was significantly smaller and less expensive than other houses I was looking at or had lived in previously. It was also much more run down and in need of repair, and I am not the fixer-uper type. What originally caught my attention was the atrium, a narrow 20 foot high breezeway room between the house and garage. Originally, I suspect that this was open to the elements, but a fogged plastic roof had been placed over it, along with some venting to keep it cooler in the summer.
When I went to look at the house, I loved that room. Yet the rest of the house left me less than thrilled. The carpets were old and stained. The walls needed painting and the stucco was crumbling. The house, as natural a setting as it is, was surrounded on three sides by street, with houses on every side of it. This was a bit too much for someone who had spent 20 years on an 8 acre piece of land set far back off the road. So I passed on the house, and went on to the next couple of waterfront houses on my list.
The next time I went out with my Realtor to look at houses, I decided to take another look at SimonShire. It still didn’t make my list, but something about it kept calling to me. After a long week of looking at more than 10 houses a day, I had narrowed my list down to two houses–a new 4,500 square foot house with two master suites and a riverfront house with acreage. I made plans to go back out to each of these, but also decided to take one last look at the small run-down underground house. As I sat at home that evening, trying to decide where I wanted to spend the next chapter of my life, I realized that the little quirky hobbit hole fit who I was the best.
People often wonder if it is dark and gloomy in the house, since it is underground. The answer is no, there is more natural light in this house than there is in any other house that I have lived in. The atrium allows a large amount of light in, and there is a huge picture window and french doors opening up from the main house so we can enjoy our flowers even in the winter, when the temperature drops enough that we have to close the doors. On the other side of the house, we have a glass wall with two sliding doors that can be opened up onto our patio. This would be absolutely amazing during the summer with indoor/outdoor living except for being surrounded by houses. As it is, we call it the fishbowl, and tend to keep the shades drawn.
The house itself consists of three domes made of 10 inch thick steel reinforced concrete. The first two domes contain the living areas and the bedrooms, with the concrete divider separating them. The third dome contains the two car garage. It is separated by the rest of the house by the atrium. I suspect that the atrium was once a breezeway with no roof, as it is poorly insulated and the cover is just a hard plastic covering. It can get hot in the summer and cold in the winter There is a ventilation system to keep the atrium from getting too hot, and it never gets below around 50 in the winter, so we can keep our tropical plants in there year round. The roof is covered by soil up to eight feet deep in places, with a ground covering and occasionally a vegetable garden planted. The walls along the length of the house are open with large windows, but the two ends are buried in the hill. The thermal sync of the earth keeps the house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
We have slowly started working on updates. Two years ago, Andy replaced a failing carpet with laminate flooring that shines like a mirror. Last year we updated our dishwasher from the 80s with a new Bosch. This year we plan on adding a privacy wall of bamboo out the back window to take back our fishbowl. We have also been slowly working on the landscaping. Despite the weeds getting the best of us during the summer, we have managed to add to the abundance of flowers that decorate the lot.
