restoring the house of tomorrow

December 31, 2025 | round houses

In the early 1930s, the house of the future, as conceived of by architect George Fred Keck, was round (or, technically, 12-sided) and had floor-to-ceiling exterior glass walls. Dubbed the House of Tomorrow, it was built as an exhibit for Chicago’s 1933 World’s Fair.

The house was far ahead of its time, with modern conveniences like a dishwasher and air conditioning, and a glass facade to bring in natural light.

But later years were not kind to the house. In 1935 it was relocated to Indiana and was stripped of its original windows, which were replaced by smaller, less strikingly modern versions. And as the decades passed the house fell into disrepair.

A $4 million federal grant has now changed the house’s prospects. New floor-to-ceiling glass windows have been installed, returning the house to its original design, but better than before, as the new windows are made of heavy triple pane glass.

According to the nonprofit Indiana Landmarks, which now owns the house, its future may include use as a short-term rental. Anyone visiting Indiana should look into staying at this unique house, at once futuristic and historic.

a dome with portholes

September 16, 2025September 16, 2025 | round houses

Ukrainian designer Anastasiya Dudik has built a futuristic dome in the California desert.

I especially like the interior, with super high ceilings and an exhilarating view –

The floor plan shows its indoor/outdoor, circle-within-a-circle layout –

groove in the round

August 30, 2025August 30, 2025 | round houses

The ultimate party house, a round house built in the 1950s by legendary comedian Jackie Gleason, just hit the market. With three bars, three fireplaces, and a round marble dance floor, the place “was built to have fun” –

geodesica + 1

April 13, 2025 | round houses

Coincidentally, another Gilbert Spindel-designed mid-century round house — a Geodesica — is also for sale, this one in Lake Charles, Louisiana –

Built in 1964, the house underwent a top to bottom revamp in 2010, months of work to reach the owner’s stated goal of “bringing it back to the ’60s.”

The groovy result, with white shag carpets, glittery wall paper, a purple bathroom and a pink sun room, can be seen on the Retro Renovation blog. Here’s a glimpse of its living room –

The house’s color palette has been toned down significantly since then, but it’s still an unusual, appealing house, ready for a new owner who’s ready to think outside the box.

mid-century mod

April 13, 2025 | round houses

A mid-century modern round house, designed in 1960 by engineer and entrepreneur Gilbert Spindel, is now on the market in Shawnee, Oklahoma –

Dubbed the Geodesica, the house’s blue prints were advertised in newspapers and magazines, and several were built. The Shawnee house is among the eight or nine surviving round houses that Spindel designed, most of which were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s in suburban neighborhoods in the South, including in Jacksonville, Florida, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Magnolia, Arkansas.

The one-story house is partially open plan, with a kitchen/living room and several bedrooms and bathrooms arranged around a central dining room –

curves inside and out

March 18, 2025 | round houses

Beijing-based architecture firm Penda China has designed a beautiful variation on circularity –

Called House O, the curves of its outer walls are echoed by curving inner walls and a swooping staircase –

round house memento

March 17, 2025March 17, 2025 | round houses

This milk bottle cap is a memento of a long-closed dairy, which itself was named after an even older, no longer extant, round house –

The Round House Dairy, in Newport, Rhode Island, opened in 1926 and closed in 1970. It was named after a house on the estate where the dairy was first established.

off-beat and off grid

November 21, 2024December 19, 2024 | round houses

Speaking of Airform-like houses — this off-grid concrete dome in Rainier, Washington, also took the same basic approach to building a circular dwelling, spraying concrete over a sort of inflated balloon. The Redfin listing for the home, which was built in 2008 and sold to new owners in 2016, includes photos that document parts of the building process –

dome home

November 21, 2024November 21, 2024 | round houses

A new dome house — apparently called Domed House — is being built in Dover Plains, in NY’s Hudson Valley region –

The house is extremely reminiscent of Wallace Neff’s innovative Airform House — popularly known as the bubble house.

Designed to remedy post-WWII shortages in housing, bubble houses were inexpensive and easy to build, but their unusual form and open-plan layout did not find favor with the US public, not during that ultra-conformist era. Maybe now that tastes have evolved, and cookie cutter suburban ranch houses are less of an ideal, such houses will finally find an appreciative audience.