Fun Friday – The Cincinnati Mushroom House
We need some entertainment after seeing tons of dropped ceilings and peeling laminate floors, so this is Old Houses Under Under $50k Fun Friday pick. Fun Friday is a collection of weird old structures, NOT for sale, simply of interest.
If it was good enough for the Smurfs, it was good enough for Terry Brown.
Quite by accident we came across Cincinnati’s Mushroom House in our travels. Our family was visiting and taking photos of the wonderful older homes in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Cincinnati when my daughter shouted out, “Oh, there’s the Mushroom House!” We immediately pulled the car over and started taking snaps.
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Later I discovered that University of Cincinnati assistant professor Terry Brown began transforming his old bungalow into an organic work of art in 1992. He had decided to open his architectural practice in Cincy, and as an introduction to the public, what better way than to construct a unique building in highly visible Hyde Park?
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Brown procured the aid of students at the School of Design, as well as local artisans, to assemble the warped shingles, spiral staircase and stained glass shapes into a fungus-inspired one-bedroom home mimicking the underside of a mushroom. Inside are domed ceilings, portholes, crescent windows, mosaic tiles, hand-carved wood walls, and an iron steampunk floor etching. Brown employed a fun and whimsical cowboy motif for some of the rooms.
Visitors cannot tour the interior of the Cincinnati Mushroom House, but here are some photos I found on the Internet when it was up for sale in 2012. It is not currently on the market.
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