Centennial – Talk about thinking outside the box.
There was nothing square about the planning, construction and recent renovation of this concrete dome in Denver’s southeast suburbs.
An aeronautical engineer rumored to have once worked for Howard Hughes completed the house in 1982. He and his wife had scoured the globe in search of energy-efficient architecture.
Their custom house was erected around an industrial balloon. More recently, it came under the care of an avid collector of mid-century modern furnishings who undertook an equally meticulous process to reinvent the property for today’s living.
A perfect fit
“I could see upon coming in how to take this house from the 20th century to the 21st century,” says Jeff Edelson, a health care administrator who relocated from Kansas to Colorado, bringing along the vinyl seating, plastic dishware, O-shaped telephones and vintage posters he’s been acquiring for around a decade.
“I had no reservations that this was the house for me,” says Edelson, a New Jersey native. “This immediately had the uniqueness and the charm and the comfort and the ability to design that I was looking for.”
It can be hard for people who have never walked into a dome home – particularly one like this made from steel reinforced concrete and dotted with skylights and portholes featuring mechanical shutters activated by a weather sensor on the roof – to imagine how cozy the interior actually feels. The home’s original owner and visionary, Chris Barnes, once told an interviewer from Dome magazine that a guest compared the sense of security and sanctuary inside his house to early life. He said this particular woman “stopped in the foyer (and) sort of drew her breath … She stepped inside a few paces and said, ‘You know, the reason this feels so comfortable is because it takes us right back into the womb – the shapes and the contours, no sharp edges, no angles.”
Circa 1980, Chris and Maxine Barnes had good reason to forge ahead with plans to build their dome in spite of raised eyebrows from neighbors, builders and city administrators. They looked to the Army Corps of Engineers for ideas about building techniques and materials.
The dome conserves energy because it has less surface area to transmit and contain hot or cold air. South-facing windows heat the home’s indoor swimming pool, and a synthetic stone column at the center of the house further absorbs and emits hot and cold air. The couple lined the dome’s interior with acoustical insulation to prevent echoes.
Ambitious remodel
Edelson took ownership of the house Dec. 31, 2005. At that time, overgrown junipers made architectural details like the covered driveway indistinguishable.
“I wanted to show the house,” he says. “Others have wanted to be more private and reclusive.”
Even now with the brush cleared, the landscape replanted with a Xeriscape garden, new curbing, stonework, and a trickling pond, the dome is still hidden from the bustling traffic and businesses along nearby Arapahoe Road.
The two east-facing front doors feature half-circle windows. Inside, an arched entryway opens onto the circular staircase at the center of the house. Look upstairs from the front door, and it’s easy to decipher three second-story cubes designed by One Home in Cherry Creek North to break up a formerly cavernous, loft-like space.
This is one of a few places in the house that reflects one of modern icon Frank Lloyd Wright’s key tenets: being able to look from one end of the house to the other.
The modern aesthetic is further observed in the way the dome’s skylights and new glass corners draw in additional natural light, and the way foliage around the pool and nearby windows brings the outdoors in.
Candy-colored collectible furniture sparingly arranged in the living room pops with help from an orange fireplace wall. A friend of Edelson’s who is well-versed in fine art selected the color to coordinate with his furniture and artwork.
“The painting was an interesting project,” he notes. “The lighting was another interesting project.”
A low, round, red loveseat that looks like something from an Austin Powers movie set stands near a series of plastic blocks in the living room. These were used for retail displays in the 1960s but now serve as funky end tables. “I’ve only found one a year, so those represent four years of looking,” Edelson says of the cubes.
“My weekends are usually spent trying to find one or two pieces that will complement the house,” he adds. “My passion is to go into stores where I don’t expect to find mid-century modern and find that one item thatsays, ‘Jeff, this should be with you.”‘
A space-age-looking Italian light fixture sets off the dining room, where a glass case in front of an interior waterfall contains small sculptures and collectible dishware.
With further help from One Home, Edelson updated his kitchen with black granite counters, open cabinets and glass tile trim that catches the afternoon light.
“The thing I really love about that house is that it’s so simple, it’s just this massive dome,” says One Home owner and lead designer Heather Mourer. “It’s so impressive structurally and sculpturally, and it feels really good when you’re in it.”
The master bedroom mirrors the peace and quiet palpable throughout the house. Here, a drawing of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pennsylvania Fallingwater house acquired from a California estate sale hangs near a platform bed from Scandanavian Design. Mid-century lamps dot the room.
Almost every day in the year-and-a-half since Edelson bought the house was spent working on renovations. Now, he plans to relax and enjoy it.
“Initially, all contractors scratch their heads because they are so overwhelmed by how to work on a house like this,” Edelson says. “The good news is that no one has been stumped yet.”
Room editor Elana Ashanti Jefferson can be reached at 303-954-1957 or ejefferson@denverpost.com.
