This “quirky” house is known as Dune House and was designed by renowned architect William Morgan, who has designed many interesting houses throughout Atlantic Beach.
We have fondly referred to this house as the ‘Teletubby House’ as it resembles the grassy, green mound that the Teletubbies live in. (Are the Teletubbies still around??) It’s an oceanfront property, and the house is actually comprised of two “shells” placed into the dune itself, so that it’s used as a duplex / rental property. I think the shells are made from ‘gunnite’, the swimming pool fabrication material. They are exposed from the beach side – the light source come from the windows that peer out from the dune onto the beach. The entry doors are opposite, from the street side.
You can Google William Morgan if you are interested in architecture. He’s a real treasure, and we met him and his wife last summer. He lives next door to the Dune House, in another home he designed, oceanfront. On the other side of his home is my personal favorite of the three, a large, contemporary home he designed for one of his adult children.
Dune House is making news here because it is now for sale. William Morgan is getting older and he’s not well. He’s published several books (we have one, a wonderful coffee table book we bought from him at a book signing in town) and has designed structures worldwide. He’s a local treasure. This property is a local curiosity. But naturally we are concerned that whoever shells out the big bucks for it isn’t going to keep it as is. The asking price is $1.85 million…for an underground duplex of 750 square feet each unit. It’s truly one-of-a-kind…someone could buy it and open and bed and breakfast. It would be a cool place to vacation: Atlantic Beach, Florida is a great, relatively ‘under the radar’ place. The beaches are awesome, the town is relaxed and unique, and within driving distance of the more touristy and kitschy (if you like kitsch!) and okay, it is the nation’s oldest city – St. Augustine. But staying here would be like moving into the neighborhood for a time and some of my own best vacations were in beds and breakfasts nestled deep in the heart of a community.
More about Atlantic Beach and the beaches area to come. Beachlife temperature (in Fahrenheit) tonight is 52 degrees. Warm weather is on its way!
Mormon doctrine on this topic was written over a hundred years ago and not clarified much since, so there is a lot of confussion, extrapilating, and divergence, even within the church. The original counsel said “avoid hot drinks” which people typically interperat as tea and coffee. Some people have decided that the reason is becuase of the caffeine, although this was never stated clearly. Those who think the cousel was given because of caffeine do indeed avoid Coke and any other caffeinated beverage. Personally, I think that is crazy, but if you go to BYU (the church-run University in Provo) you will notice that the Coke products in all the machines are caffeine free. Coke actually invented the caffeine free versions of their product just to tap into the Mormon market. Still, this is in no way a commandmentand many faithful Mormons do not follow it at all.
I hope that that house doesn’t get flooded when rain comes.