PREP House of the Week, Recommissioned Missle Silo

NC Susan

Deceased
House of the week: missile silo home with runway

Published May 12, 2012
Zillow


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127 Standish Rd, Saranac, NY
For sale: $750,000
There’s a saying that the only living things that could survive a nuclear explosion are cockroaches.
Them, and maybe whoever ends up living in this upstate New York home for sale.
Nestled up in the Adirondack Mountains, this $750,000 property listed on the Saranac real estate market has more to it than meets the eye because it was once home to a nuclear missile silo. Decommissioned in 1965, the home now incorporates the missile launch control center — 35 feet underground — into part of its living space. The command center was carved out of concrete and was designed to withstand a nuclear attack, or a “strong earthquake.”

Cold War Missile Installations
Following the emergence of space and missile technology in the beginning of the Cold War, the United States government began developing the Atlas missile system. In total there were six different kinds of Atlas missiles, designated A through F. Each were placed in several different missile bases throughout the U.S., including several in upstate New York.
In this Saranac home, the Atlas F missile was contained in an underground missile silo that was connected to the underground missile launch control center. Built out of concrete mixed with epoxy resin and 600 tons of steel re-bar, each Atlas F structure was considered to be one of the “strongest structures built by man.”
After the silos were decommissioned in 1965 and determined to be free of any nuclear radioactivity, much of the land was auctioned off by the government, including this missile home, which was purchased by the present owners about 20 years ago.

Decoy House
The two owners spent the next two decades transforming the silo into livable space, complete with a decoy house sitting on top of the control center and a private 2,050 paved airstrip right in front of the home.
“The home is a super structure,” said Mike Franklin, one of the three Sotheby agents that hold the listing. “You fly in, park your airplane, go into the house and into this closet. You go down the stairs and you come to a blast-proof, 2,000-pound steel door and you’re in the command center.”
While the home above contains 2,000-square-feet of living space with bedroom and kitchen, the main living area — about 3,000-square-feet — is within the command center, some 40 feet below ground.
The top level of the command center is the kitchen and living room, and the bottom levels contain bedrooms and bathrooms. From the bottom level and through a set of steel doors, you can access the 185-foot deep silo where the Atlas F missile was kept.
From the photos, some of the living areas look perfectly normal — if you ignore the lack of visibility to the outside.
Franklin explains that there are “windows” underground with lighting to mimic outdoor light but what he thinks the truly unusual thing about the home is the lack of noise.
“It’s so quiet in there,” Franklin said. “It’s really bizarre.”
If you like the quiet — and perhaps don’t mind living underground — the home has many of the features any luxury home would have: a marble-tiled Jacuzzi shower, enormous master suite and gourmet kitchen.
The property includes a paved FAA-approved airstrip, with room for expansion, and 19 acres. The surrounding land is subdivided and also available for sale.
The unusual property has received quite bit of press as well as interest. Franklin says the most unusual interested buyer came from someone looking to use it as the set for a reality TV show.
According to the Zillow mortgage calculator, the monthly cost to live on this decommissioned nuclear missile site is $2,772, with a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year mortgage.

read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012...e-with-runway/?intcmp=obnetwork#ixzz1uxbb5prY

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Don’t believe us? Step inside!
http://www.zillow.com/blog/2012-05-08/church-schoolhouse-and-silo-the-past-lives-of-homes/

Missile Silo Home

127 Standish Rd, Saranac NY (below)


For sale: $750,000

Want the ultimate conversation piece? How about living in a home on the Saranac real estate market that was once secure enough to hold a missile (above). Although there is a small, “decoy” home above ground, the main living areas lie 35 feet underground in a nuclear- and earthquake-proof space. Once the missile command center, the area has been transformed into a comfortable space with 4 bedrooms, kitchen, and living room. The home also includes an 180-foot deep silo space that once held the U.S. military’s Atlas missile.
 

NC Susan

Deceased
Former Storefront

2116 N Leavitt St, Chicago IL
For sale: $895,000

This storefront Chicago property (above) was home to several different kinds of shops over the years, but it has settled into its latest incarnation as a single-family home. The attractive conversion can’t hide its past, though, which is nice given its dramatic 20-foot-ceilings, “restaurant-grade” kitchen and roof-top terrace.
 

NC Susan

Deceased
Guest Caboose

1756 Defoor Ave NW, Atlanta GA
For sale: $395,000






A classic bungalow in Atlanta is attractive enough on its own, but it comes with the added bonus of an unusual guest house that is a cozy as, well, a caboose! Painted and completely renovated, the caboose guest house has a kitchenette, small living area and nook-sized bedroom.




Modern Wares
1121 Delano St, Houston TX
Currently off the market


The steel, concrete and pipes of a warehouse (above) were transformed into chic accents for this modern home on the Houston real estate market. Built as a warehouse in the 1960s, the home has been customized into a 4,704-square-foot living space with high ceilings and large windows.




Barn-livin’
10 Albert Ave, Barrington RI
For sale: $339,000


No need to make room for farm animals in this barn. The Barrington, RI home (above) was once a Civil War-era barn and much of that character was retained in the renovation. Built in 1865, the barn was converted to a “sunlight” 3-bedroom home in 1996.
 

NC Susan

Deceased
Former Firehouse
117 Broad St, San Francisco CA
Recently sold: $875,000


Like the painted lady row houses in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, here’s a home that is a different kind of painted lady. Built in 1896, this San Francisco home (above) was formerly a neighborhood fire station, painted with a bright red door and trim. Clues to its past still remain inside the 2-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot-home today — including a fireman’s pole. The home sold for $875,000 in December 2010.



Schoolhouse Rock
1381 Knopp School Road, Fredericksburg, TX
For sale: $2.3 million


This stunning property in Fredericksburg, TX (above) gives little hint to its historic past as a schoolhouse and teacher’s residence. The 4,870-square-foot limestone home has been generously expanded and features an open floor plan with high ceilings and enormous glass sliding doors that lead to patios and the rectilinear pool.
 

NC Susan

Deceased



Source: Wiki commons

Mary Kay Mansion
8915 Douglas Ave, Dallas TX
For sale: $3.3 million
The former home of the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics is exactly the color you would expect: A soft shade of light pink. Mary Kay pink, to be exact.
Mary Kay Ash’s stucco mansion was designed in 1984 by Dallas Design Group and served as the businesswoman’s home and headquarters for entertaining Mary Kay consultants until 2000. Although Mary Kay did not design the home, touches of the makeup icon are inherent in many of the home’s features, according to listing agent Karen Luter.
Like, for instance, the solid pink quartz toilet and bath.
The beauty-product queen’s former home is back on the Dallas real estate market for $3.3 million. Mary Kay sold the home in 2000 in her efforts to downsize, and now the current owner, a Dallas physician, is following suit and hoping to move to the San Juan Islands. What’s unusual, notes Luter, is that both Mary Kay and the physician are successful entrepreneurs.
“It’s interesting that it [the home] was purchased by Mary Kay, who was a self-made woman, and it was sold to another self-made woman from humble beginnings,” said Luter.
Ideally, the next owner would follow the trend, but if the buyer happens to be a self-made man, Luter says she won’t discriminate.
Despite its pink-hued exterior, the interior of Mary Kay’s home has an elegance that belies the outside.
The home is built on a grand scale, with 40-foot-high ceilings and a foyer that includes busts of famous composers inserted in the ceiling. Highly detailed paneling and moldings appear throughout the house, as well as enormous floor-to-ceiling, beveled glass windows that look out to the terraced gardens.
Situated on an acre of land in the high-end Dallas neighborhood of Old Preston Hollow, the grounds of Mary Kay’s home were designed to mimic the San Simeon estate, William Hearst’s famous home in California.
The former Mary Kay home was redone by the current owner: New flooring, paint, updated kitchen and geothermal system for heating and cooling.
Mary Kay Cosmetics was founded by Mary Kay Ash in 1963. Frustrated when her employer promoted the man she trained rather than her, Mary Kay quit to write a book to help women succeed in business. Out of her research, she realized she had a business plan that would work for her makeup company. She began giving out pink Cadillacs to her top Mary Kay sellers in 1969.
In an age when many women were not encouraged to work outside the home, Mary Kay’s company was a significant opportunity. Luter shared an anecdote from one of the woman who worked with Mary Kay in the company’s early days:
Mary Kay told them (the consultants) to work really hard all day and then get home and sauté some onions in a skillet. As the fragrance fills the house, your husbands will think you’ve been cooking all day.”
Read more about Mary Kay’s home on CandysDirt.com.
 

KKC

Veteran Member
I have always thought converted missile silos are the coolest. You can bet if I ever hit the lottery I’ll be buying myself a missile silo.
 

Hansa44

Justine Case
Do owners actually live in these houses or are they mainly for show? I cannot see any attraction at all to actually live in a huge house like this. Altho' as I get older I am far more concerned about my home being comfy and rather small.

If I did have to choose a huge house it'd probably be more like ths southern mansions.
 

SIRR1

Deceased
I have always thought converted missile silos are the coolest. You can bet if I ever hit the lottery I’ll be buying myself a missile silo.

There are several old NIKE bases near my BOL that would be ideal for a shelter, 2 have been converted into underground tech schools and the others are on private property.

SIRR1
 

Tennessee gal

Veteran Member
Do owners actually live in these houses or are they mainly for show? I cannot see any attraction at all to actually live in a huge house like this. Altho' as I get older I am far more concerned about my home being comfy and rather small.

If I did have to choose a huge house it'd probably be more like ths southern mansions.
I feel the same way. As I get older I want comfort, but a small place that doesn't require much maintance
 
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