For $849K, this Westchester geodesic dome home offers energy efficiency and endless views
Just 45 minutes from Manhattan, this three-bedroom home in the Westchester County, N.Y. village of Pleasantville, asking $849,000, sits on a 40-foot granite rock cliff. Though that alone might make it a standout property, the 2,519-square-foot home is a geodesic dome, built by the dome kit experts at American Ingenuity, according to Curbed. The current owners built the home to follow their dream of building a geodesic dome within an hour of NYC, with a view, close to town and the Metro North commuter train. Its construction far exceeded the building codes at the time while making it 50 percent more energy efficient than a regular house.
The house is hurricane proof, tornado proof, earthquake proof and fireproof from the outside and boasts R-42 insulation, passive solar and cat-5 wiring. An extensive water filtration and storage system includes an artesian well.
Natural light is everywhere inside the house. The first floor has gorgeous wide plank cherry and walnut hardwood floors, a wood-burning fireplace and spectacular views.
The kitchen is open to the family room with its large stone fireplace. You’ll also find a center island, marble countertops and light from every direction.
The home’s spacious master bedroom includes an en-suite bath. A lofted area offers sleeping space or storage.
The lower level provides an opportunity to create a finished space to your specifications, with an additional 1,800 unfinished square feet. There is also a full attic over the garage for more storage space.
The home’s wrap-around deck is perfect for entertaining and outdoor dining with spectacular views. The house sits on 1.64 wooded acres for plenty of privacy. The property can also be subdivided.
It was innovator/engineer R. Buckminster Fuller who named the dome’s shape “geodesic;” while he didn’t invent it, he is credited with the U.S. popularization of the idea and received a U.S. patent for it. The geodesic dome appealed to him because because of its weight, the way its surface texture provided an inherently stable structure and because its spherical shape encloses the greatest volume for the least surface area. The dome was introduced to a wider audience as a pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City designed by Thomas C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc.
[Listing: 25 Hillside Avenue by Richard Esman for Douglas Elliman]
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Images courtesy of Douglas Elliman.