A quirky architectural gem is 20 minutes from downtown Austin. | Photo courtesy of Airbnb
A quirky architectural gem is 20 minutes from downtown Austin. | Photo courtesy of Airbnb
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A strange and beautiful house sits in the hills of West Austin, beige walls curved into strange organic shapes that almost look like it could have grown out of the dirt on its own. If you were to stumble upon this house in its misty wooded valley, you’d be forgiven for thinking it might be a formation of giant meringue-like mushrooms, or maybe some kind of unusual cave.
And even, the flower house, in all its swirling, bloblike glory, is actually the product of human hands. And you can stay there if you book it on Airbnb.
To understand how the Bloomhouse came to be, we need to go back in time to the 1970s, when architecture student Charles Harker designed the structure as part of his graduation thesis. The vision for the house was to represent a balance between humanity and the natural world, serving as both a constructed shelter and a place of solitude shaped to mimic the movement of the winds and the landscape. The house was meant to feel like a peaceful escape from society, an ideal that meant it didn’t even have a physical address for years.
The construction of the house took 11 years. Its basic design was constructed with steel reinforcing bars which were then covered with polyurethane foam. Over a period of 7 months, the foam was painstakingly shaped with a hand pruning saw. Harker and his team finished it with layers of concrete stucco, adding cherry accents inside the structure, and covering the floor with handmade circular tiles.
Austin’s housing boom of the 1980s came and went, and over time the Bloomhouse fell into disrepair. A few decades passed before the house was purchased by David Claunch, former mayor of West Lake Hills, Texas, who began restoring it in 2017.
Today, the Bloomhouse looks much like it once did, with no straight lines or angles except for the doors. Stepping inside is a bit like stepping into a fantastically large seashell, the walls and ceiling curving pleasantly around you. Despite its unusual appearance, the house has a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room (with a sofa bed), all equipped with modern furniture and everything you need for a comfortable stay. Outside, a peaceful terrace and an outdoor shower allow you to feel more connected to nature.
It’s definitely a weird house, described by one Airbnb guest as “like you’re living in your wildest imagination.” Everything looks like something and yet looks like nothing.
If you have any doubts about the place, you might take a cue from another Airbnb guest, who called the rental “a truly unique experience you’ll never forget,” adding, “We asked ourselves, ‘Is it this too weird? ” It was not.”
The Bloomhouse is available for up to four people and is currently listed on Airbnb for $597 per night.
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