Boaty McBoat House Is for Sale in Vermont

In Waitsfield, Vermont, with the Mad River running behind it, a 1,594-square-foot home designed by Yestermorrow founder John Connell — recipient of a 2026 Preservation Award — is asking $495,000. Two bedrooms, two baths, a cantilevered deck, vaulted ceilings, curved bridges over open staircases, a triangular kitchen counter bump-out, and an exterior that Reddit has described variously as Boaty McBoat House, a flying ship from Treasure Planet, a six-year-old's drawing handed to an architect, and Zillow injecting fentanyl into its own eyeball. Most of the windows and roof angles have leaked. The concrete faces on the exterior are of the people who designed and built it.

Creative and Whimsical, But Also Highly Dangerous

The listing accurately describes this home as creative and whimsical, and the builder's skills are not in question — the custom woodwork throughout is genuinely remarkable, from the magical front door featuring the building's footprint to the angled cabinetry and the striped wood kitchen countertops. The cantilevered deck over the Mad River is legitimately wonderful: the listing says you'll feel like you're floating in mid-air, and Reddit did not dispute this. What Reddit did dispute is the triangular kitchen counter bump-out, which protrudes into the cooking space at a height and angle calibrated to destroy shins and, if you happen to trip on the stairs first, impale you on landing. The stairs themselves were described as r/deathstairs material — dual flights of open treads, no handrail to speak of, designed by someone who has always wanted to fall down two different flights at the same time. Flooding in Vermont is no joke, one commenter noted, with the Mad River that close behind the structure. The roof's integrity is, per a firsthand source in the thread, a known issue.

She's Built Like a Steakhouse, but She Handles Like a Bistro

The Futurama reference — she's built like a steakhouse, but she handles like a bistro — earned 21 upvotes and the observation that it might be the most accurate description of any house ever posted to this subreddit. Reddit's broader reaction was split between genuine affection for the concept and structural pragmatism about the execution. The builder clearly has skills and the river setting is genuinely beautiful. The form-over-function critique — specifically asking where the solar panels are on a home this architecturally committed to sustainability language — landed without a satisfying answer. The home operates on pirate code, per the thread, which may explain some of the roof situation. One commenter is immediately setting up a recording studio in here. Another's hips would be constantly bruised and not in a good way. A third perished on the stairs just by looking at them.

The Internet Has Thoughts

Naturally, this listing caught the attention of Reddit's r/zillowgonewild community. See what people are saying about it here.

A Yestermorrow original on the Mad River — death stairs, a triangular counter, a leaky roof, custom woodwork throughout, and a cantilevered deck that really does feel like floating. View the full listing here.