SMART NEWS

This 1970s Underground Bomb Shelter Is Impeccably Designed And For Sale

3970 Spencer St seems pretty normal, until you look more closely that you realize that the trees in the background are fake, and the sky is painted on

Rose Eveleth

Contributor

September 6, 2013

At first glance, the home at 3970 Spencer St seems pretty normal. It’s only until you look more closely that you realize that there are vents in the yard and lots of weird air conditioner units. That’s because a large part of the home at 3970 Spencer Street is underground. It’s a bomb shelter from the 1970s. And it’s for sale.

Image: Review Journal

Here’s the listing at Realtor.com. They say nothing really about the fact that beneath the above ground home there is a 15,200 square foot bomb shelter basement. Messy Nessy Chic writes:

The house was built in 1978 to withstand a nuclear blast by an arguably ‘paranoid’ wealthy businessman, Girard “Jerry” B. Henderson. The ambitious homeowner made his fortune with several companies including Avon cosmetics and Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. In 1964, he tried his hand at another business venture and formed his company, ”Underground World Homes”. Convinced that things with the Soviets weren’t going to end well in the Cold War, Henderson tried pitching his vision of underground living to America. At the New York World’s Fair in the mid sixties, his company sponsored the exhibit, “Why Live Underground”. But if Henderson was going to wait out the end of the world underground, he was going to do it in style.

Let a real estate agent take you on a tour of the house:

According to Review Journal, there has been some interest, but no buyers. They just haven’t found the right paranoid prepper family yet.