Boulder House, dubbed as "America's Most Original Home" by the National Register of Historic Places, is the dream home for archeologists, historians, artists, and nature lovers. If you are one of them, then your dream just might come true, as this house built in boulders is now available in the market for $4,200,000.
Boulder House is situated on nine acres next to the PGA Whisper Rock Golf Course. The estate includes 4,380 square feet, three bedrooms, two and a half baths, a lobby with a huge fireplace, Douglas fir beam ceilings, guest quarters with a separate entrance, and a library with built-in bookcases. The kitchen also comes with a dishwasher, disposal, kitchen island, multiple ovens, non-laminate counter, range/oven electric, refrigerator, wall ovens, and polished concrete floors stained to balance with the natural stone color. The exterior has balcony/decks, covered patios, and even a private street.
The property was first bought by Sunnie and Bill Empie in 1974 after being intrigued by an ad that read, "Does anyone want to buy my pile of rocks?"
The couple planned to build their home beside the huge boulders. They commissioned architect Charles Johnson to build their home. But, Johnson had another idea in his mind, instead of building a home beside the boulders, why not build it, in it. The Empies agreed to what Johnson had in mind and begun constructing using the granite boulders as walls.
During the construction, Bill and Sunnie found out that they were not the first humans to live in the boulders. They found pottery shards and rock carvings that dated back as far as a thousand years.
According to TopTenRealEstateDeals.com, the rocks are about 1.6 billion years old from the Precambrian era, about the same time that hard-shelled life forms first showed up. And yes, long before the Flintstones arrived on Earth.
Boulder House was also featured in the Architectural Digest in 1983. It is currently owned by Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and is listed in Russ Lyon Sotheby's International Realty for $4.2 million.
