Duluth's "Mushroom House" Has Been a Local Landmark Since 1970. It Just Listed at $369,999.

Reddit's first reaction to this listing was: "Did a wasp build this." The second was: "It looks like someone built this out of paper mache." The third was: "I like the space. Sorry, I do." All three are reasonable responses to the Duluth Mushroom House — a 1970 triple-dome home at 1401 Mississippi Avenue that has been known locally as the Mushroom House or Flintstone House for over fifty years. It is listed at $369,999 and hit the market one day ago.

What It Is and How It Got Here

Built in 1970 by Duluth developer George Hovland and designed by architect Stan Nord Connolly using an innovative foam-shell construction method, the triple-dome structure sits on a private 0.60-acre wooded lot in Kenwood — walking distance from the University of Minnesota Duluth and the College of St. Scholastica. The foam-shell method produced the organic, curved exterior profile that earned it both of its nicknames and has kept it firmly lodged in Duluth's collective memory for five and a half decades. Inside, the curved walls and soaring dome ceilings create spaces that feel, as the listing puts it, "more sculpted than built." The main level has a sunken living room with a built-in sofa and a wall of seven-foot patio doors opening to a wraparound deck in the trees. The arched kitchen carries the organic geometry throughout. The lower level has a 775-square-foot family room with beamed ceilings and a wood-burning fireplace, plus three additional bedrooms. Total livable space is 2,800 square feet across both levels.

The Case For It — and the Duluth Question

The listing is candid that this home is not for everyone. It opens with: "There are homes that shelter people, and there are homes that reflect them. This home is the second kind." Recent improvements include new windows, resealed skylights, UV-resistant exterior paint, epoxy flooring, a new sewer lateral, and a whole-home ozone air scrubber — meaning the next owner inherits a well-maintained dome with the major systems addressed. At $369,999 for 2,800 square feet in Kenwood, $132 per square foot for a property with this level of architectural character and local name recognition is difficult to dismiss. The Reddit commenter from New Orleans who said they liked the space but couldn't handle a Minnesota winter was being honest. That is the trade-off with Duluth, and it applies equally to every other listing in the city. The Mushroom House simply makes it more interesting than most.

The Internet Has Thoughts

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

Triple domes, curved walls, a sunken living room, and 55 years of local notoriety. $369,999 in Duluth. View the full listing here.