2 Minutes from Sugarbush, Lincoln Peak. Architect Dave Sellers’ “Archie Bunker” is a high-concept concrete manse filled with vintage artifacts. Winner of 2010 American Institute of Architects Award.
Includes a private spring-fed swimming pool and golf green for putting and chipping. For a video tour, search "Archie Bunker Offbeat Spaces". Please be sure to read Other Details to Note PRIOR TO BOOKING. THIS IS AN UNUSUAL HOUSE AND ISN'T FOR EVERYONE.
The space
Originating from a 10-day design class called the "Joy of Concrete", the Archie Bunker began as a playful experiment pushing the norms of concrete. What started as a pavilion with arched ceilings turned into a two year project.
Sellers built the house with students at Yestermorrow, a design/build school in Warren. (Sellers has taught at Yestermorrow, Yale, MIT and Goddard, where he founded the design/build program.)
Sellers and his students nailed together arched plywood forms from his design of the Pitcher Inn in Warren, pieces set to be thrown out, and poured concrete on them. "We made a piece of spatial sculpture, and then we figured out where we wanted to put functional things," Sellers said.
The 1,100-square foot home, with a spring-fed swimming pool on its south side, exhibits various uses, forms and textures of concrete: rounded (and rough-edged) ceilings; cantilevered balconies; a deep bathtub with a view, and a pre-cast sink.
In the summer, the south wall of the house rolls away, and you can jump right into the pool. In the winter, when the snow reaches an exterior band of mirrors, the concrete house appears to float.
The house was honored in 2010 by the American Institute of Architects. It was built Prickly Mountain-style: with no client and no formal design. This kind of freedom in architecture is what Sellers prefers, and what interests him.
The house features the following:
Two bedrooms and two bathrooms:
-- Master bedroom with queen size bed, private balcony and attached bathroom.
-- Second bedroom with queen size bed, that overlooks living room.
-- Second bathroom with large sculpted concrete soaking tub
-- Large living room with two seating areas, dining table, chess table and plus unique pull-out trundle bed (queen size), and wood-burning fireplace. WE DO NOT PERMIT GUESTS TO USE THE FIREPLACE FOR SAFETY REASONS.
-- Kitchen including gas range with oven, Dishwasher, Microwave and coffee maker
--Washer/Dryer
--Wireless Internet
--Rustic Private Swimming Pool (not heated) (summer only--open July 1 though Sept 15)
--Radiant heated floors
Guest access
Guests will have access to the following:
Summertime: private swimming pool
A 3 tier semi-private golf green with 3 tee boxes. Please note that the pool is not heated and availability is limited to months of July and August. We endeavor to have the pool available and ready for use as soon as possible each season so if you are booking in May or June please confirm availability with us prior to booking. The sliding door that opens to the pool gets screwed shut during the winter, and it takes some time to reopen it for summer, so please also confirm with us availability prior to booking.
Wintertime: huge yard for sledding and other winter fun
Assorted board games
Assorted books from the library
Other things to note
Some things to note: PLEASE READ. THIS IS A QUIRKY HOUSE SO WE WANT YOU TO BE FAMILIAR WITH WHAT TO EXPECT PRIOR TO BOOKING. THIS HOUSE IS NOT SUITABLE FOR TODDLERS OR YOUNG CHILDREN DUE TO VARIOUS SAFETY ISSUES NOTED BELOW
There are many interesting views and windows throughout the house including into the bathrooms, so if privacy from other houseguests is a top concern, please take this into consideration.
This is a country location, so you may encounter critters in the house including country mice, chipmunks, spiders, ants during your stay. Please let us know right away if you do encounter any mice so we can take appropriate action. It is best to avoid leaving food out in the open.
In the winter, especially during periods of heavy snow, it may not be possible for the driveway or walkway to be plowed promptly as the local plow companies all get overwhelmed. There are snow shovels available for your use. Of course, we will do our best to get the plow service out there as soon as possible.
The pool is not heated and is made from an unfinished concrete. It is unavailable in winter, and usable generally speaking from July 1 to mid-September. Weather permitting we do try to get the pool open and ready for use in June but it is dependent on weather and local resources.
The house has a radiant heat system. Recent improvements to the home have been made and the house generally stays reasonably warm throughout the winter retaining temps in the high 60s on first floor and low 60s on top floor during periods of extreme cold. There are also some space heaters in the home so with those you should be able to make the house toasty as needed. One nice feature of the radiant heat is that the air doesn’t feel as dry and helps keep feet warm. Please do not leave space heaters on when sleeping or when not at home. There is no air-conditioning. It is rarely needed in Vermont but if this is a must-have for you please book something different.
There are multiple staircases in the home, some with wide gaps in railings and sharp concrete edges. This is an experimental home and there are some unfinished aspects especially on the exterior of the house to allow for future projects. There are also rough concrete surfaces in various parts of the home and some exposed rebar near the pool and on the roof.
There are many doors and entrances to the house, many of which are handcrafted and non-custom. Not all of them lock. If this is important to you, then this house is not a good fit. Most Warren residents leave doors unlocked but if you are uncomfortable with the fact that not all of the doors may be locked, we recommend against booking this home.
If you are looking for a house full of creative energy and quirks this house is for you. If you are looking for a hotel experience where everything is sanitized, dust-free and perfect, this house is not for you.
THERE IS NO TV.
Also while we do have a coffee maker and a hair dryer in the home, because these items have disappeared in the past we do not list them as included amenities.
There is an exterior security camera on the property.
Here are some past customer reviews for the property: (note Dave Sellers is my father and the architect and owner of the house)
Thanks for the memorable and happy days surrounded by ingenuity, curiosity, and playful nods to history that this house embodies. This is an inspired dance of mass and motion, past and future, cave and forest, energy and equilibrium, surprises abound. This was the perfect house to shelter us through Sunday night's thunderstorms. Welcoming the sunshine of following days, we enjoyed watching the light explore and reveal new details. Thanks for these uplifting, thought provoking days!
-Steve & Susan
Venice, CA
Dave,
Your whimsy has inspired me. This house is not only impeccably detailed but also communicates a larger idea and philosophy of how life could and should be: Playful, open, bright, nuanced and with integrity.
-Matt Wolpe
Yestermorrow Intern
Dave,
There is no better way to understand the power of "leaving the square open" than exploring the bunker, imagining the process of design and construction. Thank you for introducing this concept to me and thank you for giving me the opportunity to put my hands and work into this project, no matter how small a way. To the guests of the house: Doesn't the slate around the pool look gorgeous?!
-Tim Wheelock
Atlanta, Georgia
Dear David,
At first the lights perplexed me but when I changed my mindset and imagined I was exploring a coral reef for the first time, then every mystery turned into an adventure of illumination and enlightenment. As with any sophisticated and complex system, with time I saw the wisdom in what had been either bizarre irrelevance or random eccentricity!
To me concrete has been dead and inert. Here it is alive!
Stomping grapes, sipping wine, inhaling the fall colors and digesting your many stories have been enriching and inspirational. I look forward to shadow-boxing on the fringes of reality with you again.
Thanks for your hospitality.
Murph
(Leaf peepers Forever)
Dave,
This is by far the most amazing place I've ever stayed in. I love the fantastical attention to detail- a work of art just as much as a rad place to stay. Thanks
-Brendan
Best place in the USA. Love the heated floors.
-J. Holden
Australia
Dave,
Wow, I can't tell you how amazing our night was here. The bath tub upstairs watching the storm roll in will be a night not soon forgotten. You are creating something truly magical here, and with every polished concrete bath tub, or split wooden table, or molded cement column, you bring into existence a true sense of form ad function unwrapped in an air of whimsy and class. Thank you for creating what other people only dream of experiencing, and then giving people like us the chance too. Muchas Gracias,
-Lucy & Fred
Dave,
The opportunity to stay here among the textures and materials, chairs and tables - each wondrous - was the opportunity to reconsider the entire built environment and our relationship to natural systems. I feel recharged and hopeful. Thanks for making this happen and for making it available.
Many, many thanks
-Natlie & Jeremy
