Flintstone House
| The Flintstone House | |
|---|---|
 View from Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge on Interstate 280 (June 2007) | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Residence |
| Architectural style | Free-form dome |
| Address | 45 Berryessa Way |
| Town or city | Hillsborough, California |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 37°31′53″N 122°21′32″W / 37.53139°N 122.35889°W |
| Completed | 1976 |
| Renovated | 1987 |
| Height | approx. 20 ft (6 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Shotcrete on steel |
| Floor area | 3200 ft2 (297 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | William Nicholson |
The Flintstone House is a free-form, single-family residence in Hillsborough, California[1] overlooking, and best seen from the Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge on Interstate 280.[2][3] It was designed by architect William Nicholson and built in 1976 as an experiment in new building materials, in the form of a series of domes. It was constructed by spraying shotcrete onto steel rebar and wire mesh frames over inflated balloons. Originally off-white in color, it was repainted a deep orange in the early 2000s. The house contains three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Known popularly as "The Flintstone House", it derives its name from The Flintstones, a Hanna-Barbera Productions animated cartoon series of the early 1960s about a Stone Age family.
The home is also known as "The Barbapapa House," deriving its name from "Barbapapa", a character and series of books created by "Annette Tison" and "Talus Taylor" in the 1970s.
Disrepair and restoration
By the mid-1980s the house had fallen into disrepair, as water runoff from higher on the mountainside damaged the foundation, causing the walls to crack. After several unsuccessful attempts, an extensive restoration commenced around 1987.
San Francisco Bay Area architect Eugene Tsui undertook to remodel the house during the first decade of the 2000s. The results of Tsui's remodel appear as the "Edises Kitchen" project, pictured on Tsui's Web site. Tsui's original concept for the remodel, including a then-proposed, complementary second residence on the property, is detailed in depth on his earlier site. (See external links, below.)
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View of The Flintstone House from Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge on Interstate 280 (July 2007). -
View from Berryessa Way with Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge in background (March 2009).
Notes
- ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
- ^ Views from the bridge are only available from a moving vehicle; stopping on the freeway for non-emergency reasons is unlawful.
- ^ Bridge 35-199, at Crystal Springs Road and San Mateo Creek was named Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge after a Hillsborough police officer who was killed in the line of duty on August 5, 1959.
External links
- Atlas Obscura: "The Flintstone House" — online article with high-resolution photos and history
- The Wave Magazine: "Meet the Flintstones" — at the Internet Archive
- www.andek.com — information on the repairs in 1988
- Architect Eugene Tsui's original concept for the mid-2000s remodel
- Eugene Tsui's "completed projects" slide show
37°31′53″N 122°21′32″W / 37.53139°N 122.35889°W