Forever frolic in the forest with this fantasy home in the Wisconsin woods.
This “hobbit house” looks like a fantasy novel set, but not only is it real — it’s also for sale. However, now it seems quite close to having a new owner. After just eight days on the market, it’s reportedly under contract and no longer accepting showings.
“There’s lots of split levels in the Midwest, but nothing quite like this one,” realtor Sara Cappechi told ABC7 of the River Falls property, which listed for $315,000. “What’s really cool about the walls is that [it’s] spray foam insulation that they’ve painted white.”
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom domed house is sunk into a hillside and set on 3 acres of private woodland. It boasts three woodburning fireplaces, five skylights, two Google Nest-controlled furnaces and a striking resemblance to Bilbo Baggins’ address in “Lord of the Rings.”
It’s cottage-core look has made it a hit online, where its popularity has brought interested buyers in from far beyond its Shire. “We had agents touring from Kansas this morning. Somebody from Milwaukee. We had somebody from Oklahoma,” said Cappechi, who admitted to never having actually seen “Lord of the Rings,” while acknowledging she “probably should have before listing this property.”
The “bermed-earth-sheltered” house was constructed in 1972 and comes with a two-car garage, is “surrounded by nature and privacy” and is notably energy efficient, according to its listing.
Although one-of-a-kind for the area, the compound is far from the only piece of real estate to look like something plucked from a “Hobbit” soundstage: In 2020, a similarly earthen structure in the middle of Vermont went on sale for $220,000.
“Our country is so wedded to studs, sheetrock, plywood, plasterboard,” the property’s architect, Bob Chappelle, told a local news publication. “All you get is a box.”
At his pad, residents enjoy a “fairytale-like home with multiple open rooms, skylights, a huge wooden soaking tub, cherry dining room table, cherry kitchen screen, gorgeous cherry bed headboard and rough-hewn granite floors and walls,” according to the listing at the time.
