It’s as if an unidentified flying object touched down in bucolic Redding, Ct., just 60 miles from Midtown Manhattan
But the curious 3,100-square-foot sphere is actually a rare geodesic dome home with two bedrooms and two baths, central air conditioning and an observation cupola providing 360-degree views — perfect for stargazing.
The house is now on the market for the first time in almost a half-century, for a whopping $950,000.
Modeled on futurist Buckminster Fuller’s “off the grid earthship home” of the 1970s, the Connecticut place was built in 1978 by Raymond Noren, an eccentric multimillionaire and milling machine heir. When Noren died last year, he left the dome to a longtime friend, musician Hal Lefferts.
Sitting on six acres, the dome home looks like a UFO landed in bucolic Connecticut.
“[Lefferts] was surprised by the gift, had no interest in living in the dome, and decided to sell,” real estate agent Jennifer Thomas of Houlihan Lawrence told The Post.
Lefferts, who was involved in work on the dome years ago, told The Post he also inherited valuable treasures that Noren had collected and left inside the dome, including a 15th- century, 500-pound Buddha head.
The two-bedroom home measures around 3,100 square feet.
A unique fireplace sits in the middle of the living area.
Despite a depressed housing market, Thomas said her phone hasn’t hasn’t stopped buzzing with calls about the strange UFO-shaped residence.
“There’s been great interest coming especially from millennials who are intrigued by the place, and don’t want to make any changes,” the agent said.
In the early 1970s, the futurist Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller popularized the radical spherical design. He once wrote that the dome-home concept was structured after “the natural system of humans and trees with a central stem, or backbone, from which all else is independently hung, utilizing gravity instead of opposing it.”
Fuller, who died in 1981, believed the concept represented freedom, and that a geodesic dome house could be erected anywhere. The US military even experimented with the concept.
As for Noren, he pulled together a collection of friends and craftspeople — some described by his brother as “weed-smoking, talented hippies” — to help build the unique structure.
“My brother had a fascination with Buckminster Fuller, and thought the design of the geodesic dome was beautiful,” recalled attorney Ronald Noren, who was four years younger than his brother. “And over the course of time, most of my brother’s life, he was working on the dome. It was a very, VERY long process.
Eccentric millionaire Ray Noren built the home, working on it for many years to get the details just right. Courtesy of Ronald B. Noren
Noren was inspired by the architecture of futurist Buckminster Fuller, including his Dymaxion House. Bettmann ArchiveA college dropout who oversaw the design and construction without an architect or engineer, Ray Noren was a perfectionist obsessed with getting every detail correct.
“There was always ongoing work, with all of that incredible woodwork and carving that took years,” observes his brother. “Virtually everything in the house is bespoke. The woodworking in the house is absolutely amazing. And there’s a large Asian influence, just his vision of what he wanted. Even things like hinges were handmade.
“I can’t think of anything I’ve looked at in that house that was off the shelf. It was ALL custom … It was just an enormous amount of labor. If my brother had not passed, he’d still be living in that dome. He would have gone out feet first under all circumstances.”
