Strange Dome House in Staffa

Sunday I had to drive down to my parents’ place in London. On the way back, I decided to do a detour through Staffa and see if that mysterious dome house was still there. I discovered this house some years back while driving through farm country, and I’ve been interested in it ever since. It makes for an interesting story.

Normally, you’ll miss Staffa if you blink, though a cursory search on the Internet would suggest it’s a booming metropolis. Business directories, friend finders, white pages, tourism directories … the place isn’t very big at all.

Actually, it’s just an intersection somewhere west of Stratford, with no businesses or shops (not even a post office or a convenience store) as far as I can see. If the population total on the sign is correct, no one lives there.

The dome house itself lies almost hidden behind an overgrown driveway with waist-high grass and evergreen trees. It looks to be in good shape, but is completely deserted. The stone barn/shed near the entrance has crumbled over the past couple of years, but looked to be in good shape the first time I saw it. It might have made a good driving shed, or a workshop/studio. Now it’s in ruins.

When the grass was shorter, a few years ago, I stopped nearby and walked up to the house. It was solid, and looked like most of the work had been finished, at least on the outside. The sliding patio doors at the back had been smashed, and piles of broken safety glass were scattered on the steps. I felt a little weird walking around inside the place, but it was interesting to see one of these dome houses in action.

The inside was unfinished — there were bales of insulation still stacked neatly, and there were stairs leading down into a basement, so my guess was that the foundation was in place, it was solid, and relatively dry. If that crappy “Blair Witch Project” film taught us anything, it was to not go down into basements of deserted houses, so I avoided that unhappy ending, curiosity be damned.

I don’t remember if there was a loft built, but I do think there were some wall frames in place. It was quite roomy, and it made me want to build my own dome house. The floor plan was pretty close to Timberline’s Birch model. I talked with my dentist in Stratford about it, and he said that his father owned the adjacent farmland. He said that if they could find and purchase the land, they’d let me buy the dome house from them … as long as I moved it from the site. I wasn’t that interested in his proposal, and it didn’t seem like they were going to be able to get the land anytime soon.
If anyone has any ideas about this place, let me know.