No, you didn’t read the title wrong.  330 square feet hasn’t stopped Hong Kong architect Gary Chang from expanding his tiny apartment into a shocking 24-room space.  How is that possible?  Are the individual rooms less than 14 square feet each?  The strange answer is…sort of.

Gary decided to make the most of his space by implementing a sliding panel system that makes his apartment pretty much whatever he wants it to be.  Journalists and home enthusiasts have called the apartment “The Domestic Transformer” and the home was featured in The New York Times.

Check out the video:

Chang is obviously some sort of mad genius – the fact that he was able to design this setup and execute it speaks to his ingenuity and industry.  There are many, many tiny apartments in Hong Kong – and Chang is the first to think of this sort of solution to the problem of limited space.

The home is also considered ecologically friendly.  Chang has come up with a way to save on heating and cooling, and because his apartment gets pretty constant natural light he barely ever turns on the lights.

If we’re going to get technical about it, Chang’s apartment isn’t really 24 rooms – it’s really just an apartment with 24 possible configurations.

Chang has lived in this particular space since he was a young man.  The building was built in the 1960′s and when Chang first lived there he lived there with his mother and three sisters.  His father was a waiter in the United States.  Amazingly enough, during those days they also rented the third tiny partitioned bedroom to a tenant to help with the rent payment.

When Chang took possession of the apartment he began a lengthy four-renovation project that cost more than $200,000 and resulted in the remarkable apartment he lives in today.  It’s guys like this that make it so fun to write for this website!

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For those who like to travel, here we submit a not-to-be-missed historical attraction off the coast of France.

In world where modern design and technological advances have led to the construction of some of the most impressive (and unusual) residences, it cannot be forgotten that history has provided us with some unforgettable abodes that will continue to rival their modern descendents long after the foundations begin to crumble.  One such monument to oddity is the famous Mont. St. Michel, and eccentric little island just off the coast of Normandy.

Mont St Michel

The tiny isle lies about 1 km from the coast, and served as the seat of power for the Romano-British empire until it was overrun and captured by the Franks near the end of the 7^th century.  Perhaps the most notable characteristic of the place is the ancient Benedictine abbey which dominates nearly the entire island.  The history of the place is steeped in religious lore.  According to folklore, the massive church (and the island itself) is named after the Archangel Michael, who instructed the Bishop of Avranches to build a church on the location, and when repeatedly ignored, burned a hole through the clergyman’s skull with his finger.

One of the most impressive structures associated with the abbey is a set of steps known as the Escalier de Dentelle, which consists of over nine hundred steps and reaches all the way to the roof of the building.  Although the abbey (which dates from the 11^th century) is no longer the site of religious rites and pilgrimages, it can still boast a colorful history.  It has faced numerous battles and political upheavals.  During the French Revolution, the abbey was converted to a prison, housing mainly political and clerical opponents to the regime of the time.

There is surprisingly little information available on the Kettle House in Galveston, Texas.

It is a very interesting-looking structure.  Rumor has it that it was built in the 1950′s, and that it is the top of a silo turned upside down and roofed.  Most of the internet comments out there comment on the fact that it managed to survive Hurricane Ike – a 2009 hurricane classified as a Tropical Depression Nine.  Ike was a horrible hit to Texas, killing 6000 people in just a few hours.  It was the worst hurricane to hit Galveston since 1900.

The address of the Kettle House is 14108 San Luis Pass Road.

Treat, Shade, and Roggs wrote a book called Weird Texas, wherein they say that the house was built by a guy who used to build oil storage tanks.  According to locals, nobody lives in the Kettle House, yet a man comes and does maintenance on the property every so often, only to disappear for long periods of time.

How cool would it be to talk to the guy who holds the keys to the Kettle House?  Why doesn’t a citizen of Galveston approach the guy next time he shows up and ask him some questions?  If any brave soul is willing to do so, they are guaranteed an exclusive interview and some mad props here on You Live Where.  Until then, I guess we’ll just have to speculate as to why someone would build a house that looks like a tea kettle, and if the weirdo internet rumor is true that it actually works like a tea kettle (?!?!) and if it is, in fact, designed to float during a flood.

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We usually discuss strange homes on this site, but when there is a re-emerged sunken town to talk about we simply can’t resist.

Once upon a time a population of about 1200 people lived in the valley town of Potosi in Venezuela.  One day, the president arrived on a helicopter and informed everyone in the little town that they’d have to move – the government was flooding the little town to build a hydroelectric dam.  People had to leave their houses, most of which they’d built with their own hands.  They had to leave their church, outside of which most of their relatives were buried.  They were all relocated to different parts of Venezuela.   The town was flooded, and all that remained visible was the steeple of their beloved church.

Steeple of the Potosi Church

Along came a weather phenomenon called El Nino.  El Nino made floods happen in some places, droughts in others.  In Potosi, it came in the form of a drought.  In early 2010, the town of Potosi emerged.  Most of the houses were gone, but the outside of the church still stands.

Skeleton of the Potosi Church

The Difference

The town was, obviously, uninhabitable when it first resurfaced, and there are no clear reports on what the Venezuelan government wants to do about the situation.  But the fact that even a little bit of the town survived its 25-year submersion is quite remarkable.  One might hope that the people of Potosi can someday return home.

If there weren’t already enough reasons to visit Barcelona, Spain, now you have another one.  Casa Batllo is situated at 43 Passeig de Gracia in the Illa de la Discordia in Barcelona, and it is open for tours to the lucky traveler.

The structure itself was built in 1877, but remodeled and finished in 1906 by Antoni Gaudi and Josep Maria Jujol.  Gaudi, who was born in 1852 and died in 1926, was a very creative and unconventional architect who fought through the initial ridicule and judgment of his peers to create his own special visions.

Casa Batllo, also called “The House of Bones” or Casa dels Ossos, makes use of sculpted stone and mosaic to create a totally unique exterior.

The roof is arched like the ridged fin of some strange fish or dinosaur, and one legend says that the turret and cross on top stand for Saint George’s sword – which of course he used to kill the dragon.

The roofline of Casa Batllo

The man who commissioned the building was a rich aristocrat named Josep Batlo.

As for the interior of the structure, Batllo himself lived in the building for a while – the first floor apartment is included in the tour.  Batllo and his family lived on the first and second floors of the building, and they rented out the upper floors to residential tenants.

It only costs 17.80 Euros per person to tour this historic structure.  That includes an audio guided tour and can observe the grandeur and charm of this true work of art.

We don’t usually delve into celebrity news and scoops, but when I saw the specs on Perry Farrell’s Venice, CA home that went up for sale several months ago, I know I just had to write it up here.  The home sold on May 25, so unfortunately you can’t count on me for the latest news about homes for sale (at least not yet) but the founder of Lollapalooza and front man of Janes Addiction’s house is far too cool not to tell you about.

First off, there’s the exterior.  It’s hard to believe that it used to be a standard post-war California bungalow, because this house’s exterior is the furthest thing from that.  It’s totally black, with a barrel-curved roof (and of course, the ceiling inside is curved as well) and it looks very, I don’t know, black and barrel-like.  And shiny.

Well, shiny in parts.  The original listing said that the “rock musician” took advantage of the Southern California weather, and Farrell has always been a bid of an environmentalist, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this dark exterior has something to do with solar heat and a wicked-efficient indoor heating and cooling setup.  In addition, there is also one whole wall that slides open (like a sliding glass door) so that the indoors can incorporate some outdoors.  There is also a rooftop deck.

The first floor of the house features an open floor plan.

Open floor plan with a barrel ceiling

The master bath has a sunken tub (and by sunken we mean directly in the floor) and cool floating sinks.  Two vanities are key, no matter if you’re a rock star or not.

The property also features a three-car garage, a rock and cactus garden.  One drawback?  Laundry in the garage.  Even the wives of rock stars (and the rock stars themselves) have to schelp to the garage to do the wash.

Either way, it’s a pretty cool house, and I bet you’re sorry you didn’t know to save up $1.425 million to buy it.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

Do you like learning about celebrity homes?  If so, I’d be happy to find some more for you.  Comment below!

Francis Bannerman was obviously a pretty rich guy.  After all, he had enough money to buy 90% of the Spanish-American War’s army surplus (the US side, at least).  And then, because his Manhattan surplus store didn’t have the storage space (and because his neighbors weren’t wild about having a whole lot of ammunition on the block, Bannerman had a enough money to buy an entire island to store his goods upon.  In 1900, that was a lot of money.  Today, it would be astronomical.

The island Bannerman bought was called Pollepel Island.  During New York’s settlement by the Dutch, the island was a source of great fear for the American Indians in the area, who believed that evil spirits inhabited it.  That made it a great hiding place for rival tribes and settlers who wanted to avoid skirmishes with the natives.

The name of the island when Bannerman bought it, Pollepel, comes from a legend about a Dutch settler woman named Polly Pell. There are varying versions of the legend, but since I have some editorial control I will only tell you my favorite version.   Polly Pell was in love with one man, but promised to a preacher who was much older than her.  The fiance took Polly ice-skating on the frozen surface of the Hudson River and as they skated the ice began to crack.  Polly’s true love, who was watching from the woods, rushed out to help Polly and her fiance and let them to this island in the Hudson River.  The preacher was so grateful for their rescue, and seeing the obvious love between Polly and her secret sweetheart, let Polly off the hook and married the two lovebirds right on the spot.

Very unlikely, but oh well.  It is all true.  Or it isn’t.  It is.  It’s true.  Partially, I’m sure.

Other reports say that The Flying Dutchman crashed on the island, while others claim that the Dutch believed that goblins lived on the island.  The island was also a key strategic point during the Revolutionary War, and George Washington had plans to build a prison on the island, though nobody knows if that ever panned out.  None of this deterred Bannerman from purchasing the island and building his arsenal/warehouse on it, as well as a private residence on the other end of the 6.5 acre rocky island.

Bannerman’s design was inspired by his Scottish heritage.  He wanted a castle fit for a weapons king, and his warehouse and arsenal was large indeed, with several smaller side buildings that contained shells and live ammunition.  The residence Bannerman built on the other side of the island was, of course, another castle, though smaller than the “warehouse” and missing the large sign that adorned the larger structure.  It read “Bannerman’s Island Arsenal,” and served as an advertisement for his business in the city.

Unfortunately, the structure loses a little more of itself every day.  Construction stopped when Bannerman died in 1918.  His family continued to live on the island, but in 1920 one of the smaller structures which was home to hundreds of pounds of live ammunition, exploded violently, injuring Mrs. Bannerman, vaulting a wall of the structure all the way over to the mainland, and taking out a piece of the largest castle in the process.

I’m not sure if the family continued to live on the island after that, but in 1950, the ferryboat that carried passengers to and from the island sank in a big storm, and by then the family definitely didn’t live there.  After the ferry sank, the warehouse and residence were deserted.  The state bought the island in 1967 (not sure how much they paid for it), and they started allowing tours to take place in 1968.  This only lasted a few months, because a raging fire erupted in August of 1969, burning up the roof and floors of the warehouse and blowing out the windows of the  residence on the other end of the island.  The island was pretty much condemned until very recently, when different tour groups started taking groups over in a very “enter at your own risk” sort of capacity.  Hard hats are required on all visits.

Hudson Valley Outfitters and Storm King Adventure Tours run kayak tours of the island, whereas the less kayak-y types can take a tour with Hudson River Adventures and the Bannerman Castle Trust.  They run by boat.

Senator Charles Schumer is trying to save the castle by seeking out funding under the Save America’s Treasures program and other means.  Additionally, the Bannerman Castle Trust, Inc. accepts donations on their webpage, or you can send it to The Bannerman Castle Trust, Inc. at  P.O Box 843, Glenham, NY 12527-0843, call them at 845-831-6346, or email them at admin@bannermancastle.org.

In the immortal words of Weird Al Yankovich, “I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah where it bubbles all the time like a giant carbonated soda, S-O-D-A.”

That, in a nutshell, describes Dagobah, for sure.  But isn’t there so much more to the planet where young Luke Skywalker meets Master Yoda for the first time?  Lucky for us, there are scads of websites out there devoted to giving us the Star Wars information we seek.  I’m not kidding, Folks.  There is a LOT out there.  So I’m going to tell you about it.  Dagobah, that is.  It would be an awfully long blog post to describe the whole Star Wars universe.  So we’ll do it one blog post at a time.
**Note:  rewrite theme song to “The Beverly Hillbillies” so that the lyrics are about Yoda and you will win a small prize.

So, Dagobah.  Unless you’re Yoda, you don’t live there.  And in fact, even if you ARE Yoda, you’re dead.  So nobody lives there.  But would anybody want to?  And since that’s impossible because the planet is fictional, where could you go on Earth that would replicate the feeling of being on Dagobah?

Dagobah, not Earth

Dagobah, as you know, is where Yoda lived out his self-imposed exile after his failure to defeat Darth Sidious.  The planet contained the essence of a Dark Jedi who had been killed there many years before the Clone Wars.  It was that dark essence that shielded Yoda’s light side presence from any detection, and also that dark essence that Luke battled in the cave.

Now you know about that, so it is time to answer the earlier question about where you would go here on Planet Earth to replicate the feeling of being on Dagobah?

While we won’t find a place on earth with Bogwings or Giant Swamp Slugs, we have some (though less and less every year) boggy, swampy, jungle-y land here on Planet Earth.  In fact, the Atchafalaya Basin is probably the closest thing we’ve got in North America, though it’s not as dark and dismal as Dagobah.

Do you have a swampy, boggy marsh you like to call home?  Send in pictures and we’ll post them here.

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Yet another post inspired by the fact that someone in my household is addicted to educational television!  A recent episode of a show on the Discovery Channel showed a crew put together a Huf Haus in only 5 days.  That’s start to finish (framing, windows, caulking, etc) not including wiring or plumbing.  That is pretty amazing.

photo by satguru

The Huf Houses come, for lack of a better term, in a box.  All the pieces are prefabricated at the factory in Germany, and shipped to the final location along with instructions to put them together.  Of course, most people hire contractors to do the work.  So, in essence, the Huf House is a kit house, but it’s a very, very high quality kit house.

The company was founded in 1912 as a carpentry company that build churches and other structures.  In the seventies, with the help of an architect named Manfred Adams, the Huf Haus company designed the prototype for today’s Huf Houses, and a whole new type of business was born.  In 1996, Georg and Thomas Huf took over running the company (their grandfather, Johann Huff, was the founder) and they started marketing the Huf House to markets other than Germany.  It caught on, and now there are lots of people in Switzerland and the UK who are proud owners of Huf Houses.

What’s the appeal?  Obviously, since they come in a kit, they are easy to put together.  They have lots of windows, so they let in a lot of natural light.  Another bonus is that they don’t have a dependency on load-bearing walls like traditionally-built houses have, so there is a lot of opportunity for open floor plans.

Also, since there are so many windows and skylights, there is a great deal of solar energy going on.  The houses are well-insulated – those windows and skylights are not drafty, and because so much natural light makes it into the home it certainly cuts down on heating costs.

In fact, there are lots of things about a Huf House that are “green.”  The U.S. company that acts as the distributor for Huf states that the materials used are sustainable and that the Huf Haus provides “ecologically friendly” living through these sustainable materials and furthermore claim that by living in a Huf Haus you can avoid carbon emissions.  As with most companies who partner with Huf, the people there have such a thorough knowledge of Huf’s offerings that they can offer ways to put the materials together that will make your Huf house one-of-a-kind.

And truly, the people that live in Huh Hauses love them.  There is also an independent site for owners that offers tips on where to find compatible furniture, and even how to prevent bird strikes on the windows.  It is a commitment, however, and it isn’t cheap.  But if you’re in the market to spend a half mil on a house, why not make it a Huf Haus?

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More good news for people who want to watch educational TV, but can’t stay awake through it.  American Pickers is a relatively new show on The History Channel, and it is extremely watchable.  But what,  you ask, does that have to do with weird houses and strange places to live?  Only everything!  Mike and Frank drive around to “pick” from people’s collections of stuff.  Sometimes they’ll spot a barn that looks promising, and other times they’ll see a whole yard or lot simply full of antiques and junk.  They say they’re looking for “rusty gold” and sometimes they find it.

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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