House Crazy Sarah has long been a sucker for Earl Young’s famed mushroom houses in Charlevoix, Michigan.
Her dream would be to someday own one of these quirky vintage beauties. But keep dreaming House Crazy Sarah because they don’t come cheap!
This month Earl Young’s first attempt at a mushroom house – 304 Park Ave, Charlevoix – hit the market for $4,500,000!
The Thatch House, as it is known, was built from the original stone walls erected by Earl Young in 1918. But what you see today is a far cry from what it originally looked like.
Built as his first home, the house did not yet feature Young’s eventual unique hobbit-home style, but after a dramatic re-imagining, it now has the full storybook cottage feel of the famous Earl Young mushroom houses. The new mushroom house design was conceived on a napkin by the current owner and took nearly 2 years to complete.
Here’s what it looked like before the “re-imagining”:
Quite the difference eh?
The home sits just across the way from gorgeous Lake Michigan.
The owner spared no expense as he went all-out for the Earl Young signature look: the extensive wavy roof is “crafted from the finest natural thatch hand-reaped in Europe and shipped to the USA”, and worked by a “master thatch-man”.
The new version of the Thatch house has a little bump-out guest cottage on the rear side, pictured below left:
Aren’t you curious to see what the re-worked Thatch House looks like inside?
Have a look:
The interior features the large stones and beam-work that are characteristic of all Earl Young’s buildings.
There are numerous wood-burning fireplaces throughout the home which lends to the perpetual coziness of the place.
One of the best things about this house is how the windows frame peeks of the blue waters of Lake Michigan.
The bedrooms:
The home now has a whopping 7 bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms in a total of 6,000 square feet.
So it is now more of a McMansion than a true Mushroom cottage.
Nonetheless, it is a happy sight that the owner kept all the rustic mushroom-cottage style, rather than modernizing and sanitizing the place.
The bathrooms:
Even the bathrooms got a careful Earl Young-inspired treatment!
The Guest Cottage:
The guest house is just an addition to the main house, but with all the mushroom house charm so it blends seamlessly with the original structure.
It is a fully contained granny flat, or rental, or guest house, or mommy hideaway.
So quirky and charming!
Outside, the yard of the Thatch House has numerous little landscaped and mushroom-styled nooks.
We’ll never know if Earl Young would have given this revamped home his blessing.
But it certainly is the best effort that money could buy!
Sources:
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/304-Park-Ave_Charlevoix_MI_49720_M37098-16579
https://nypost.com/2022/08/01/michigans-thatched-mushroom-house-hits-market-for-4-5m/
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