Magic Mushroom: Private Retro & Rustic Mountain Lodge
From the outside this wooden cabin-in-the-forest is interesting to be sure, but nothing extraordinary. It is easy to see once inside, however, how this unusual wood-and-stone vacation home came to be known as the Magic Mushroom House. The decor is certainly a trip, the looming masonry fireplace is shaped like a gigantic fungus and the original structure itself dates back to the swinging seventies.
Eclectic to the extreme, the house sports fixtures from various stylistic eras infused with a distinctly dated set of interior decoration strategies – including a built-in water-bed as well as a smattering of free-love (read: s***al) imagery. A central gathering area (dubbed the ‘love pit’) comes complete with shag carpet and seating around the central chimney stack and itself surrounded by a series of railing-free balconies (nicknamed ‘go-go platforms’).
Sitting somewhere on the border of comfy and kitschy, the home is constructed of a combination of curved wooden beams and rough-cut stone structural supports. First constructed and lived in by architect Andre Ulrych, the house recently passed to new owners who converted the retreat into their own part-time private vacation property.
Originally thought by the real estate agent representing the property to be a tear-down home, the new owners fell in love with the offbeat nature of the design, the naturalistic local materials used in its construction and the curious mix of styles built into it from the inside out.
