Cool Listings: A Starship-Like Home that Celebrates Both the Future & the Past

Aptly called the Sun Valley Starship, the unique property towers above a manmade pond with its imposing concrete, steel, glass and reclaimed antique wood structure.

Georgie Mihaila
6 Min Read

A striking architectural home — that looks like it was created as a home base for captain Kirk (or maybe Picard?) — is on the market near the Sun Valley resort town in Idaho.

Aptly called the Sun Valley Starship, the unique property towers above a manmade pond with its imposing concrete, steel, glass and reclaimed antique wood structure.

Despite its futuristic shape, the house incorporates plenty of historic elements — including sliding bedroom doors imported from India that date back to the mid-1600s, two steel mooring buoys salvaged from WWI ships, and exterior wood siding from the 1800s.

Celebrating both the past and the future in a most unique way, this spectacular home was first brought to market back in July with a $9,950,000 price tag (Lisa Squires with the Sun Valley office of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties had the listing).

Now, the striking property has seen a major price reduction — going down to $5,950,000 — which gives us the perfect excuse to revisit one of our favorite 2021 listings.

Image credit: Tory Taglio Photography courtesy of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties
Image credit: Tory Taglio Photography courtesy of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties

The home has warm interiors that combine vintage elements with exposed concrete

The house’s merits extend far beyond its eccentric architecture.

Inside, the Bellevue, ID home welcomes its residents with an inviting, cottage-like interior design that combines vintage elements with warm wood furniture and industrial-like exposed concrete.

Packing 5 bedrooms and 5 baths across its 12,550 square feet of living space, the house is anchored by a beautiful open kitchen — with bar seating — and wows with an additional massive circular bar that crowns the upper level living area. The 40-foot circular bar is wrapped around a skylight type of opening that overlooks the main living space underneath.

Image credit: Tory Taglio Photography courtesy of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties
Image credit: Tory Taglio Photography courtesy of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties

SEE ALSO: The Chemosphere House and 6 other striking John Lautner-designed homes

Image credit: Tory Taglio Photography courtesy of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties
Image credit: Tory Taglio Photography courtesy of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties

The starship-like house took over a decade to complete

Partially built from 2006 to 2009, the home was completed by the current owner in 2019.

“The previous homeowner had finished the basic structure of the home and the present owner conceptualized the architect’s vision by completing the design and adding personal touches — the home is understated, yet artful, rustic and refined all at the same time. The unique architecture and the backdrop of the mountains within the valley make it a rare lifestyle for the next homeowners to behold.”

Lisa Squires, listing agent
Image credit: Tory Taglio Photography courtesy of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties
Image credit: Tory Taglio Photography courtesy of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties

Among the distinct features that the owner added to the property:

  • An impressive total of 13,000 square feet of heated garages, stairways, decks and concert arena space.
  • A round 12-ft metal sprocket once used in a Montana mine to bring up copper ore to the surface, flanks the two doors leading to the outside deck.
  • A unique metal elevator cage that accesses each of the five levels of the house, including the rooftop pool.
  • Two blue-green wood and steel sliding doors that lead to the primary bedroom suite which have been imported from India and date back to the mid-1600s.

It comes with an Olympic-length rooftop pool

The Bellevue, ID house has an Olympic-length rooftop pool which cantilevers over the entrance to the home. The entrance itself is quite unique, with gabion walls flanking the driveway that leads up to it.

Image credit: Tory Taglio Photography courtesy of Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties

For easy access to the rooftop pool, there’s an indoor elevator whose metal cage (fit with antique flooring) is replicated from a Parisian design using reclaimed steel from Colorado.

There’s also an outdoor deck which has a hot tub and ample space for seating with views of the surrounding mountains.

*This article was recently updated to reflect the current price of the property. The initial coverage dates back to July 2021.

More unique homes

The House that Zaha Hadid Built: The Story of the Only Residence Ever Designed by “The Queen of the Curve”
The Architect of Hollywood: the Irresistible Appeal of Paul Williams-Designed Homes
Spotlight: The Razor House — Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz’ Futuristic Mansion
Manhattan Townhouse Known as ‘the Waterfall Mansion’ Has a Towering 23-Foot Indoor Waterfall

Share This Article
Follow:
With a decade-long career as a digital content creator, Georgie started out as a real estate journalist for Multi-Housing News & CPExecutive. She later transitioned into digital marketing, working with leading real estate websites like PropertyShark, RENTCafé and Point2Homes. After a brief but impactful stint in the start-up world, where she led the marketing divisions of fintech company NestReady and media publisher Goalcast, Georgie returned to her first passion, real estate, and founded FancyPantsHomes.com