A home in Minnesota made with a pair of geodesic domes hit the market last week for $3.5 million. The construction approach is the same as that taken with Walt Disney World’s iconic Spaceship Earth attraction at the Epcot theme park in Florida.
This method uses connected triangles to form the sphere, which creates an ultra-strong exterior. Inventor, theorist and writer Buckminster Fuller introduced the idea in the United States in the 1940s.
The name of Epcot’s Spaceship Earth even pulls from Fuller’s philosophy of the same name, which calls upon humankind to work together toward the greater good.
Geodesic domes can be found across the globe — Fuller’s most notable creation was for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal, where the dome remains today.
But this for-sale home at 3581 Country Line Road, built in 1997, can be found in the Sturgeon Lake area of Minnesota.
It has eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms and 9,338 square feet with a 30-foot-high rounded ceiling. It’s situated on 121 acres with a private pond.
The home consists of two slightly offset geodesic domes connected through a traditionally built entry, but when inside, listing agent David Lilja of Think Minnesota Realty said you can hardly notice where one starts and the other ends.
The exterior is covered in concrete, while the interior showcases the triangular forms, giving the domes their strength. Lilja said this dome home was built from the inside out.
First, pine boards were positioned using an interlocking tongue-and-groove design. Then a layer of insulation was applied, followed by the "shotcrete," a name for the process of shooting concrete out through a hose. According to a previous listing, the home was built by a concrete contractor to be used as a bed and breakfast.
Inside, there’s heated slate flooring throughout the first floor. One dome houses the majority of bedrooms, while the other remains open to the expansive, rounded ceiling.
“You are doing it a disservice if you’re calling it a cabin. You are doing it a grave disservice by saying it’s a home. It just has a really magical feel of space,” said Lilja in an interview.
There’s a layer of privacy with the home, as it's set back 40 acres from the street, with an additional 40 acres beyond it.
“You have a buffer there for noise and for privacy. The sky at night is just spectacular. You're not inundated with a lot of miscellaneous light or noise,” said Lilja. “It’s pretty breathtaking.”
A sauna and 39-by-23-foot sport court are on the lower level. There are three outdoor decks, with one second-floor covered atrium.
The property includes three outbuildings and a detached garage.
“It’s for someone looking for an outdoor play area, whether it’s ATV, snowshoe, cross country ski, hiking, hunting — it’s a lifestyle as well,” said Lilja. “There are a lot of things you can do with this property because of the scale.”
Lilja suggested using the property as an event or conference space or short-term rental.
The current owners use the home and property as a retreat with rentable rooms. They purchased the property in 2019 for $525,000 from the original owner, according to Homes.com data. Lilja declined to comment on the price appreciation.
The property is located 115 miles north of Minneapolis and is also 50 miles southwest of Duluth.