The name of this house is “Ensculptic,” which is short for “environmental sculpture in plastic.” Most people prefer to call it the “Mushroom House,” “Flintstone House,” “Hobbit House” or simply “That Weird House in Minnetrista.”
The place is now known as “The Foam House” on Houselogic’s “7 Crazy Houses” list.
16 thoughts on “Ensculptic — Minnetrista, Minnesota”
It looks like the house that the owners of Oulu Glass live in. That’s a foamy, mushroom, no-angle structure like this one.
Images of Oulu Glass in Brule, Wisconsin:
Geo. Hovland built a similar, though smaller house in Duluth about the same time. I think it’s on Mississippi or Brainerd in that part of Kenwood between UMD and the shopping center.
The one in Duluth is indeed on Mississippi. A co-worker of mine lived there and according to her it was built by foaming over three huge weather-type ballons (one for the garage and two for the upstairs of the house). I haven’t been in it for years, but I remember the inside being every bit as head-scratchingly surreal as the one in this video. Maybe even more so as it featured purple shag carpeting. Go Vikes!
The one in Duluth is around the curve on Mississippi just up from Brainerd. Every time I pass it I have to resist the urge to go up and poke the house just to check the texture of it. I always called it the Flintstone house. To the owners of the house, don’t worry, I won’t poke your house.
My sister is looking at buying the foam house in the twin cities. I find it interesting that it looks so of-the-earth while being made of a completely synthetic material. No matter – looks like it would be fun, for sure! And if you spring a leak, I suppose a can of spray foam might do the trick!
Buckminster Fuller, I still love you.
The interior looks like a blend of Yoda’s hut and Cloud City, maybe the design was inspired by Return of the Jedi?
Oulu Glass is actually in Oulu, WI. Close to Brule, but different county and everything. You can view most of the interior there just by shopping the store, but the highest story is their private residence.
Mashtato is correct. Oulu Glass is in Oulu, not Brule.
I thought I had a pretty good source; according to the Oulu Glass website, it’s in Brule:
Maybe we should just say Brulu.
It reminds me of the Xanadu house in Wisconsin Dells, a one-time tourist attraction that was torn down a few years back.
Wikipedia: Xanadu Houses
I don’t know if they still do but a friend in high school’s grand parents used to live in the “Flintstone House”… unless there was more than one Flintstone House in Duluth. Sadly, prior to this comment section, I never knew where it was, just that it was in Duluth and her g-parents lived there.
It’s reminiscent of the earthships down in Taos. I visited a friend who lived in one of the early 1970’s models designed and built by Mike Reynolds. Quite impressive for their off the grid design and functional recycled architecture.
Speaking of Mike Reynolds, the documentary ‘Garbage Man’ is definitely worthwhile.
Make that “Garbage Warrior.”
I believe that a friend of mine went down to NM to work for Reynolds one summer many years ago, but the whole thing fell through and he had to pick up some other more mundane construction job on the fly. Too bad, as it always sounded interesting.
I continue to design homes and other structures that are sculptural art pieces. The world has enough rectangles, but Architecture is becoming more sculptural and artistic. This Architect has another 20 years to have more work built. We do need some creative clients to achieve this goal. Winslow