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Maryland’s Wild ‘Mushroom House’ on the Market Again After Extensive Remodel

One of the most unusual homes in Bethesda, MD—the so-called mushroom house—is back on the market after an extensive remodel. It’s looking for a new owner who will appreciate its unique design, which looks as if it stepped straight out of the pages of a J.R.R. Tolkien novel.

The house last traded hands for $920,000 in 2015, when Brian Vaughn, co-founder of a Virginia-based IT services firm, fell in love with the home’s quirky, organic design.

“I hate traditional. It’s boring. I live in Bethesda for crying out loud,” Vaughn told the Washingtonian. “I thought it would just be a fun place for parties, and my daughter was 11 or 12 when I bought it. She was nuts for it. She just absolutely loved it.”

Built in 1923, the house appeared similar to the other homes in the neighborhood. But in the late 1960s, Edward and Frances Garfinkle bought the house and commissioned futurist architect Roy Mason to use wire mesh and durable polyurethane to transform it into something that looks like it grew out of the ground.

Locals call it the mushroom house, the Hobbit house, the Flintstones house, and the Smurf house. It regularly appears in books and on websites listing Maryland’s many roadside attractions. Countless passersby have stopped to take photos of the house, which Edward Garfinkle once called more effective at slowing down traffic on his street than a speed bump.

Vaughn remodeled the 5,500-square-foot, six-bedroom, six-bath home from top to bottom. He updated the interior, finished the basement, renovated the kitchen and bathrooms, and added a new balcony over the living room. The result is an elegant, modern, and unique house.

Most of the home’s walls, doorways, cutouts, and interior windows curve, arch, or are otherwise shaped like circles or ovals.

The open living room has a 30-foot-tall ceiling, curving fireplace, wet bar, projector, and open loft, which Vaughn set up as a jam band area.

Vaughn remodeled the kitchen with dark wood, modern cabinets, a stone backsplash, recessed lighting, and stainless-steel appliances. The previous kitchen had 1970s-era, bright-blue cabinetry.

Elsewhere, he updated the home’s bathrooms and interior doors, and added other high-end finishes.

He finished the basement, and renovated the home’s separate, one-bedroom apartment.

If you’re interested in buying the mushroom house, it’ll likely set you back more than $1.55 million. Realtor Jill Schwartz, a Realtor®, is privately marketing the home ahead of listing it publicly, the Washingtonian reports.

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