A Landmark Nobody Asked For, and Everybody Loves
Drivers on Mississippi Avenue in Duluth, Minnesota, have been slowing down for the same house since 1970: three lumpy, curved domes rising out of a wooded 0.6-acre lot like something dropped from another decade entirely. Locals call it the Mushroom House. This spring it went up for sale for the first time in years, listed at $369,999 through Zillow Gone Wild, which posted the listing on May 26.
Built by an Olympian, Sprayed Into Shape
The house at 1401 Mississippi Avenue was the creation of George Hovland, a Duluth developer and ski jumper who competed in Nordic combined at the 1952 Winter Olympics, working with designer Stan Nord Connolly. Rather than framing walls in the usual way, the builders inflated giant balloons and sprayed polyurethane foam over both sides, hardening it into three connected domes, according to Minnesota Public Radio. It was one of a small handful of dome houses built around Duluth during a brief 1970s vogue for the technique.
Inside its 2,800 square feet are five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a sunken living room lit by seven-foot patio doors, an arched kitchen with a breakfast bar, and a wood-burning fireplace tucked under curved plaster ceilings. All 16 of its windows were replaced in 2024.
Fifty Years of Curious Visitors
Being famous has its downsides. The house’s odd silhouette has drawn sightseers for decades, enough that past owners posted no-trespassing signs to keep gawkers off the wooded lot, MPR reported. According to MPR’s reporting, listing agent Alicia Lokke has fielded unusually heavy interest since the home hit the market, with showings booked back to back.
The Zillow Gone Wild listing describes it this way: “There are homes that shelter people, and there are homes that reflect them. This home is the second kind.” KARE 11’s coverage of this listing describes it as “architecturally iconic” within the city.
What Fifty Years Buys You
Dome houses had a moment in the 1970s energy crisis before falling out of favor almost as quickly as they arrived. Duluth’s version survived largely because it refused to be ignored. At under $370,000, it is also a reminder of how differently the market treats an unconventional shape versus an unconventional address.
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