'Mushroom House,' a youthful folly, goes for nearly $1 million
This is the Bethesda Mushroom House, and it lives up to its name.
The two-story structure bears a striking resemblance to a group of mushrooms sprouting up from the ground in Bethesda, Maryland. Largely made from polyurethane insulation foam sprayed over molded chicken wire, it has four bedrooms and three baths, and it recently sold for $920,000. (Click here or on a photo for a slideshow.)
When Edward and Frances Garfinkle commissioned it in the 1970s, they never meant for it to look like fungi, they told Zillow. Its shape evolved: "Each day, they'd stand back and tell the builders to bring it in here or stretch it a little more there," Zillow wrote.
Yet hard as it may be to believe, the home was actually part of a mini-trend in the D.C. area. In June 1974, the home was one of three under construction by the same designer, Roy Mason, the Washington Post wrote at the time. His teacher had dubbed him "the marshmallow architect."
The polyurethane foam technique was seen as innovative -- more eco-friendly, more energy-efficient and supposedly less expensive than traditional building materials.
The Garfinkles' Mushroom House is technically an addition. Under the foam is a once-traditional 1923 stucco house that they bought in 1967. A few years later they decided to double their square footage, and "wanted something unique — something absolutely one-of-a-kind,” their listing agent recently told Zillow.
(Click here or on a photo for a slideshow of the Mushroom House.)
Unfortunately for these free-spirited gift shop owners, the construction was fraught with problems and mounting expenses. They'd expected the project to cost $30,000, but it wound up costing at least twice that, according to the Post -- in 1970s dollars.
That figure doesn't even include the extra cost the Garfinkles had to pay to repaint their neighbor's car, which was accidentally covered in foam during construction.
Fast-forward 40 years and Edward Garfinkle had this to say to Bethesda Magazine in 2013:
"We were kind of misled into thinking it was an inexpensive way to build. It didn't turn out that way. ... We did this when we were young. Looking back on it, it was probably kind of dumb."
Ultimately, the Garfinkles -- and another of the three foam-home devotees in the area -- hired the Plexifoam Company to take over the project, the Post wrote.
But the home did get done, and the Garfinkles lived there happily for four decades. “Most people looking at it from the outside think it’s a very dark house, but it’s anything but," Ed Garfinkle told Bethesda Magazine. "There’s a pond inside the house and skylights. It’s very bright and cheerful.”
Its recent sale was the first time the Mushroom House (as such) had ever been on the market. The Garfinkles originally asked $1.2 million; after about six months, it closed at $920,000.
Click here or on a photo for a slideshow of the famous Bethesda Mushroom House.
More unusual homes on Yahoo Homes:
• Bob Hope's controversial UFO/mushroom/volcano estate (40 photos)
• Corrugated Tin House, asking $14.5M, sells in less than 2 weeks (51 photos)
• Practically invisible, virtually indestructible 'Bunker Moderne' (35 photos)
• Man quits job to live in $8,000 van-turned-home (29 photos)
