On a recent episode, they meet a man named Ron, who is a hoarder extraordinaire.  He lives on a few acres of land that is not only covered with stuff, he’s also dug a 26-room underground dwelling that is similarly filled with stuff.  It’s painted all crazy, it winds all the way through his property, and at some points goes down to many, many feet below the surface.  So, it makes you wonder – does this happen often?  If so or if not, how cool is it that we got to see the inside of Ron the Mole Man’s underground lair?

Ah, Ron.  You really made me start wondering about people living underground, and if they all wear purple hoodies with the drawstring drawn tight as you do.

It might follow that this post talks about hoarders – a breed of folk talked about on a certain TV show, and a breed often visited by the American Pickers.  But nay.  I decided instead to look into our nation’s underground dwellers.  And according to certain sources, they exist in abundance.

Jennifer Toth wrote a book called The Mole People:  Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City in 1993.  In it, she goes underground to find scads of homeless people who live not really “off the grid” but under it.  Margaret Morton, a photographer, did a photo journalistic piece on the same subject called The Tunnel:  The Underground Homeless of New York City.  Morton’s work went to justify Toth’s work, but others sought to call her out as a writer of fiction, rather than nonfiction.

Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope initially backed up Toth as well, but after reading a piece written by Joseph Brennan – a subway enthusiast who said that “every fact in this book that I can verify independently is wrong,” Adams changed his tune.  He didn’t out and out call Toth a liar, but he did think that she did a lot of embellishing in her work.  What do you think?  Are there people living under New York City?  Do they collect a bunch of stuff like The Mole Man, or is he a mole of a different color?

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The Dominican Republic, once home to Christopher Columbus, does boast some genuinely historical structures, including a number of famous cathedrals and churches, as well as a few notable fortifications (most of which came about as a result of repeated civil and revolutionary wars).   The National Palace in Santo Domingo and the Royal Buildings are some of the most visited sites in the nation, and are much more reminiscent of a real castle that the aforementioned residence.

The Castle House, as it is commonly referred to, is not without its charm.  Who hasn’t imagined living in a fancy castle, especially on an island paradise?  I sure have.  Throw up a few pennants, hang some banners and tapestries, and maybe invest in some guys to play the trumpet to announce my arrival, and I’ll be home sweet home.  Oh, and maybe look into some underpinning or something to cover up that pesky house hiding underneath the gleaming towers.  Castle skirt, anyone?

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I think I heard about a similar house on HGTV’s “What’s With That House?” where the homeowner decorated their home with pirate-themed stuff, but these people in Nevada take it one step further – they created a pirate wonderland to rival any theme park attraction.  Best of all, it can be open to the public – you can rent it out, you can use it for corporate events, and in one case, you can walk right up to the door and ask to look around.

The blog I linked to above tells about some people who were hanging out at a house down the hill and just decided to walk up and see what was up with the pirate-themed house.  The owner or caretaker (not sure which) welcomed the people in and let them swim, use the water slide, and even invited them to stay for dinner.  I found a few other blogs where people had rented out the home for vacations – I’ve found varying information that says that the house rents for anywhere between $10,000.00 and $25,000.00 per night.  So it’s pricey.

It must have cost a fortune to build – it has two pirate ships, a bunch of fake skeletons, a life-size (if not bigger) Captain Morgan, and lots more.  Allegedly the house belongs to Craig Tillotson, a bigwig with NuSkin, who wanted to create a fun place for people to go.  And I guess he really likes pirates.

night view of Pirates Cove

birds eye view of Pirates Cove

Captain Morgan

Argh, Mateys.

The website for Pirates Cove contains a ton more images, and there is a phone number you can call for more information, if you are so inclined.  If anybody decides to take a trip there send me photos and I’ll post them!

Question – if you had a ton of money what kind of theme home would YOU build?

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Apparently John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, thought it was a fantastic idea.  The structure was built on the grounds of Dunmore House as a garden retreat and greenhouse – where they grew (wait for it) PINEAPPLES!  The place was built in 1761, and cheered Murray so thoroughly that he tottled on over to the US and became the Colonial Governor of Virginia.  Pretty neat, huh?

Quick factoid about John Murray – his first wife’s name was Catherine, and her maiden name was Murray.  So that was really easy for her to remember.  Another quick factoid is that Shenandoah Valley in Virginia was named Dunmore County from 1772 to 1778.

Anyway, back to the pineapple. Pineapples symbolize hospitality, which is why so many people decorate with them even today.  This probably comes from the fact that pineapples were a little harder to get in the 1700′s, and probably the reason why Murray wanted to grow them.

The stone pineapple on the Dunmore property is beautifully carved and together with the cupola stand about 14 meters (that’s more than 45 feet to those of us who never learned the metric system).  Nowadays the building is a Landmark Trust property, and you can rent rooms for vacation.

photo by j howie

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After doing a little research, I’ve discovered that plenty of people – especially people in large cities – live in much smaller spaces.

Take, for instance, the couple covered in a recent New York Post article.  They bought a tiny studio apartment that is only 175 square feet.  They love their tiny apartment, and will have it completely paid for within two years.  They travel a lot, eat out frequently, and don’t entertain guests very often.

Lots of people learn to economize space, like the photo below (not a picture of the aforementioned couple’s apartment, by the way).

photo by ClatieK

Another guy was covered in a follow-up blog to the New York Post feature.  He’s a guy that lives in a 55-square foot apartment.  The Hell’s Kitchen apartment is only marginally bigger than a jail cell in New York City.  He likes it a lot, too, though he can’t even turn around in his shower.

Tons of square footage is not necessary for happiness.  Just ask people who live in small quarters in Sweden, Japan, and other places around the world.  As Americans continue to NOT do more with less, the New York couple in their 175 square foot apartment are an example of people living large in a small space.

Could you live in such cramped quarters?  Comment below!

More pictures of tiny apartments:

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We read about this on a website that is one of our faves.  Airplane living would be a little restrictive – sure.  The square footage is limited, the windows are small (but plentiful!) and the flow is a little strange.  But it is definitely an interesting way to live.  Not sure if I’d want one myself – at least not for all the time.  Maybe for a summer home?

Surprisingly, this airplane house is not the only airplane house in the whole world.  In fact, several people have bought airplanes and turned them into houses.  We found one article that outlines just how much someone spent to turn their airplane into a home.  A lady named JoAnn Ussery bought a Boeing 727-224 after her home was destroyed in an ice storm.  She paid $2000 for it, $4000 to move it, and put about $24000 into it to make it a home.  She was interviewed on a slew of TV programs.  Unfortunately, Ussery only got to live in her airplane house for four years before it fell off a truck and got damaged.

Several other people tout the virtues of living in airplane homes.  one electrical engineer doesn’t understand why anyone would want to live any other way.  He says that the metal structure of the plane protects against the elements and unwanted bugs and rodents, and that the fact that the plane is sealed and pressurized makes for a long life for the home.

Convinced, or do you think these people are nuts?  Make sure you add your comment below

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During this time, guys called Daimyo lorded over their territories of Japan, and some of them lived in these types of castles, which were built into hills or on the edges of rivers to help fortify them and protect them.  Matsumoto Castle is special because it is built on a plain, although it is elevated and surrounded by a moat.

The history of the castle is long and complicated.  At first it was a fort called Fukashi Castle.  Built in 1504, it changed rulers in 1550 and the new rulers built onto Fukashi, adding multiple towers, the keep (which is a Japanese national treasure), and more.  The final product was finished around 1594.

The castle stood throughout the rest of the feudal period in Japan.  6 daimyo families ruled Matsumoto until the Mejii Restoration in the 1870′s.  The Mejii Restoration saw a lot of changes in Japan’s political structure and did away with the feudal style of governing.  At that time, Matsumoto Castle was auctioned off to the city government.

Eventually, the outer castle was demolished but the keep and many of the towers remain.  Kobayashi Unari, a high school principal in the late 1800′s, raised funds to renovate the ancient castle, and it was renovated between 1903 and 1913.  It was renovated further in the 1950′s, and again in 1990 and 1999.

Today the castle is open for tours and is home to many activities during the course of the year.  You can see the cherry blossoms in April, go to a Moon Viewing party in the autumn, or go to the drum festival in the summertime.

photo by ken2754@Yokohama

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The Hundertwasserhaus (of Hundertwasserhaus) has become a cultural landmark not just in Vienna where it is located, but for the entire country of Austria.  This is despite the property only being built in the early 1980’s.  The building was the brainchild of academic architects, Professor Joseph Krawina and Peter Pelikan who conceived a property made of deliberately, uneven floors and living materials forming part of the structure and fabric of the house.

The house is actually composed of several apartments and office units and is named after the artist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who donated his design and time for free because he did not wish for an ugly building to be built instead.  The home has a roof constructed from earth and grass with trees planted inside the building and constituent rooms with the tree branches extending to the outside through windows build around them.  The Hundertwasserhaus is one of the most visited buildings in the whole of Austria.

photo by munna on the run

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Lucky for Brown, Hyde Park is a pretty cool neighborhood, because this house is definitely unique.

Brown got the idea for The Mushroom House after he’d been teaching architecture for some time.  He’s also completed a Fulbright Fellowship with Otto Graf at the Vienna Academy of Fine Art, and he’d designed a pretty funky bookstore for the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center.  He liked to work with wood, glass, tiles, shells, and other “found” materials to make his building look like it belonged in nature.  He started building The Mushroom House in 1992, and over the next 14 or 15 years he added to it with the help of his students.  He made the entire project a learning experience for many of his students.

Brown used The Mushroom House as his secondary residence – he taught in Ohio and also had a private architectural firm.  Most recently, he was teaching at Baylor University in Waco, Texas while simultaneously raising longhorn cattle at the 3 Horses Ranch in Rosebud, Texas.  Sadly, he was killed in a tragic car accident on June 28, 2008 at only 53 years old.  The world will truly miss out on the amazing structures he would have created in the years he should have had left.

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They lived in their “Winter Palace” for the next five years while they built the main building that would be Eliphante, and the surrounding buildings, one of which would be called Hippodome, named this because it looks like a hippopotamus rising out of a body of water.  Livant lives in the Hippodome now – Kahn died a few years ago from a form of dementia.  The Hippodome has a phone and running water and electricity, but no bathroom.  Livant showers in a shower house that is solar-powered (and is pretty much just a hose in a shack), and if she needs to use the restroom she does it in the outhouse, or sometimes right out in the open.  The property is fairly secluded, and is only accessible across a stream.  Sometimes the stream is low enough that a car can just drive across it.  Other times, you have to take a canoe.

Their story is one of magic and tragedy – romance and heartbreak.  Livant was a suburban mother of two, married to a a psychologist.  She dabbled in painting and drawing, but lived her suburban life and volunteered in the community.  When her kids were a little older (one in college, the other in high school), Livant and her husband went on vacation to Cape Cod.  That’s where Livant’s whole life turned upside down.

Michael Kahn was a painter, ten years younger than Livant, and she fell for him immediately.  She left her husband and her kids, and moved in with Kahn, taking housecleaning jobs to support them.  All he ever wanted to do was paint.  When they moved to Arizona they built and when he wasn’t building he was painting.  Livant blossomed as an artist, and learned to weave as well as developed her painting skills.   They were happy together.

The house that was born of their union is part madness, part magic.  It is made of found objects and driftwood and any other thing they could find to build it.  They have mosaic tile work that used salvaged tiles from someone’s kitchen remodel.  They’ve made interesting use of AstroTurf.

Though they started building in 1979, Eliphante &  Hippodome and everything around them was consistently a work-in-progress.  In 1987 Eliphante LTD was formed – a non-profit art company – and in 1994 the Smithsonian listed it with their Save Outdoor Sculpture movement.  The property is in a state of disarray – in need of about $30000 worth or repairs.  Livant doesn’t have the money, and Kahn wasn’t able to secure a grant before he died.  Let’s hope that someone comes in to do what needs to be done to preserve this artistic treasure.

Entrance - the central curved beam looks like an elephant's trunk

Interior shot of Eliphante

Ms. Livant

ceiling and ceiling fan - mylar decor