SoCals bizarre flying saucer house saved from demolition hits market for $1.5M

This mountain abode looks like it’s ready for liftoff.The Donaldson Futuro, a flying saucer-shaped home perched on a rocky mountaintop in Southern California has landed on the market for a whopping $1.495 million — giving one lucky buyer the chance to live like an alien without ever leaving Earth.But the extraterrestrial pad near Idyllwild comes with some earthly limitations.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story The well-rounded residence is barely 800 square feet, has just one bedroom and one bathroom, and requires visitors to climb aboard through a staircase that comes down from a hatch — as if boarding an actual alien craft.The 1969 harvest-gold futuristic pod is wrapped in a fiberglass and polyester shell with bubble windows, offering panoramic views of the pines and oaks that engulf its mountaintop locale.Designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in the late 1960’s and known as the Futuro, the home was reportedly originally envisioned as a portable ski chalet that could be plopped down practically anywhere – and can even be transported by helicopter.It is believed that fewer than 100 were ever built, with about half surviving globally.The roughly 26-foot-wide saucer weighs nearly 12,000 pounds and features a retro interior with curved built-in furniture, shiny laminate finished, linoleum flooring and popcorn ceilings with gold flakes.

The quirky capsule has 16 custom bubble windows, a skylight, a mod lime-green kitchen and a circular layout.The home’s journey to market has been nearly as wild as its appearance.Before becoming a mountain retreat, the time capsule was rescued by Milford Wayne Donaldson, a prominent preservation architect appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010 to chair the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation....