How’d you like to live in a 2,200-square-foot home perched on the top of an inactive volcano a few miles off Route 66?
It can be yours for $650,000. It’s situated a few miles north of the Route 66 hamlet of Newberry Springs, California, deep in the Mojave Desert.
Notably, the house was owned by the late Huell Howser, host of the long-running and popular “California’s Gold” programs. Howser’s segments featured a few Route 66 landmarks during its long run.
According to the real-estate listing, the home sits on top of a 150-foot-tall cinder cone amid 60 acres.
This carefully renovated architectural two bedroom, two bathroom masterpiece offers multiple viewing and observation decks allowing you to soak in the beauty of the area, including surrounding mountains and the on-site lake. The high curved ceilings, open floor plan, and the multiple sliding glass doors that provide access to the viewing deck that wraps around the house, all work together to help you experience this unparalleled property. At the base of the Volcano House is a detached two-story structure that contains an oversized garage as well as an upstairs apartment that could be the ideal caretaker’s residence.
The Volcano House was designed by architect Harold J. Bissner Jr. in 1968. Vegas Seven had more details about the house:
Initially the house was commissioned by Vard Wallace, an engineer who built a business selling drafting machines and airplane parts to the likes of Lockheed & Co. during World War II. Wallace, also an inventor who patented the first “skateboard” (a plank with wheels and a short pole for steering), picked the remote location as a tribute to his passions for trout fishing and astronomical pursuits. And perhaps to be close to his personal secretary, who had purchased several acres nearby. During the Wallace years, Lucille Ball was rumored to have been a guest. After Wallace and before Howser, only one owner occupied the home, British developer Richard Baily.
At one point in 2010, Howser put the house up for sale but later decided to give it to Chapman University. Howser died in 2013, and apparently the university didn’t see much point in hanging on to the property.
One could easily see the volcano house used for a bed-and-breakfast operation. The idea of staying overnight on a volcano would be an intriguing one.
(Hat tip to Doug Babin and Boing Boing)