Sculptured House
Encyclopedia
The Sculptured House, also known to locals as the Sleeper House, Star Trek House, Clamshell House, the Jetson House, or Flying Saucer House, is a distinctive elliptical curved house built on Genesee Mountain in 1963 by architect
Charles Deaton
. It is featured prominently in the 1973 Woody Allen
sci-fi comedy Sleeper
.
Charles Deaton
has described his inspiration for the house: "On Genesee Mountain I found a high point of land where I could stand and feel the great reaches of the Earth. I wanted the shape of it to sing an unencumbered song."
The interior of the Sculptured House went largely unfinished and was vacant for almost three decades until entrepreneur and one-time Denver
, Colorado
economic-development chief John Huggins purchased the house in 1999. He built a large addition designed by Deaton with Nick Antonopolous before Deaton's death in 1996, and commissioned Deaton's daughter, Charlee Deaton, to design the interior, completed in 2003.
In 2006, fellow Denver entrepreneur Michael Dunahay purchased the house from Huggins. By late 2010, Dunahay had become delinquent on the nearly $2.8 million outstanding balance of his $3.1 million mortgage on the house, and the Public Trustee in Jefferson County, Colorado
scheduled a foreclosure auction for November 10, 2010. The house was sold again in November 2010.
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Charles Deaton
Charles Deaton
Charles U. Deaton was an architect who designed the futuristic Sculptured House featured in the film Sleeper, and Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium....
. It is featured prominently in the 1973 Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
sci-fi comedy Sleeper
Sleeper (film)
Sleeper is a 1973 futuristic science fiction comedy film, written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, and directed by Allen. The plot involves the adventures of the owner of a Greenwich Village, NY health food store played by Woody Allen who is cryogenically frozen in 1973 and defrosted 200...
.
Background
ArchitectArchitect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Charles Deaton
Charles Deaton
Charles U. Deaton was an architect who designed the futuristic Sculptured House featured in the film Sleeper, and Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium....
has described his inspiration for the house: "On Genesee Mountain I found a high point of land where I could stand and feel the great reaches of the Earth. I wanted the shape of it to sing an unencumbered song."
Construction
The Deaton-designed house was built in 1963. Delzell Inc. was the original builder of the house on an experimental permit, Clifford M Delzell was owner operator of Delzell Inc.The interior of the Sculptured House went largely unfinished and was vacant for almost three decades until entrepreneur and one-time Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
economic-development chief John Huggins purchased the house in 1999. He built a large addition designed by Deaton with Nick Antonopolous before Deaton's death in 1996, and commissioned Deaton's daughter, Charlee Deaton, to design the interior, completed in 2003.
In 2006, fellow Denver entrepreneur Michael Dunahay purchased the house from Huggins. By late 2010, Dunahay had become delinquent on the nearly $2.8 million outstanding balance of his $3.1 million mortgage on the house, and the Public Trustee in Jefferson County, Colorado
Jefferson County, Colorado
Jefferson County , whose slogan is the "Gateway to the Rocky Mountains", is the fourth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. Located along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, Jefferson County is adjacent to the west side of the state capital, Denver....
scheduled a foreclosure auction for November 10, 2010. The house was sold again in November 2010.