Home, Sweet Dome: Geodesic dome nestled in the woods offers modernity, privacy - - Baltimore Fishbowl

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3227A Offut Road, Randallstown, Baltimore County

Hot House: Geodesic dome, surrounded by woods. Three bedrooms/four baths, 3,600 square feet on 4.7 acres. Asking price: $735,00

What: This is not your traditional center-hall brick colonial home! It is a tongue-and-groove cedar shingle house, based on the principles of R. Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic polyhedron domes. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure. A sphere encloses the greatest amount of space for the least amount of surface area. This dome house was built by the current owner in 1990.

The house is comprised of two domes with wrap-around decks, set atop a walk-out base on the lower level.

The main level houses a living room and a den, along with the kitchen and a half-bath. The living room and den share a double-sided fireplace and the den is lined with built-in bookcases. The kitchen features up-dated electrical appliances, a stainless-steel fridge and a walk-in pantry. The main bedroom has a deck, a private bathroom with a walk-in shower and a bidet (the latest pandemic trend), two walk-in closets and a cedar closet. Two of the bedrooms have double closets and the third has built-in bookcases and a desk. There is a loft on the top level of the house.

The basement features a workshop and gardening room, storage and a laundry area, with a clothes chute from the upper level. Because of the unique shape of this dome house, none of the rooms are standard sizes and they have odd corners here and there. The walls are slanted, so hanging artwork can be a challenge. But owners of these dome houses love them.

Most of this nearly five-acre property is wooded, and in addition to the main house there is a custom-built playhouse and a gardening shed.

Where: The dome house is in Randallstown, just off of Offut Road. As you make the turn from Offut Road, and drive through a development, you will travel a long, graveled driveway lined with azaleas, through the trees into an opening where the dome house sits in a clearing. It’s close to Liberty Road with shopping and restaurants. It’s about a ten-minute (depending on traffic) drive to the Beltway and 795. McDonogh is the closest private school, but the Randallstown public schools are close by. But if you’re living in a house like this one, you probably don’t want a lot around you.

Final Appraisal: If you’re the type of person who shudders at the thought of living in a cookie-cutter development, where each house is basically identical with a two-car garage, driveway, and closely cut front lawn, this is the house for you. Geodesic polyhedral domes have been used for everything from the Biosphere Environment Museum at the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal to small garden sheds. The listing for the house is here.

Meg Fielding writes the local interior design and lifestyle blog Pigtown Design and is the past president of the Baltimore Architectural Foundation. She enjoys dual citizenship with the US and the UK.