If descending the 125-foot stairwell from the surface to the launch control center (LLC) and silo is not exciting enough, there is also an escape hatch to climb leading straight back to the upper levels of the LCC and garage above. In terms of pure repurposing, this “super-hardened” vertical silo also retains some incredible traces of its history. Hallway 2,000-lb blast door in open and closed position. Just think what could be done with the remaining 20,000 square feet of this cavernous space - a Bond villain’s dream. Image: SilohomeĪs well as featuring a massive open floor plan chalet and hangar at ground level, deep inside the bowels of the complex, the onetime launch control center is now the most intriguing aspect of the ‘Silohome.’ Over two levels and 2,300 square feet, part of the missile silo’s vault has been restored and renovated - its bedrooms, bathrooms, living area and kitchen connected by a giant spiral staircase. But, carved into solid rock, the best bits are inside. Boasting both road access and a private airstrip, set on a 100 acres of land with forest and trails, and surrounded by beautiful panoramic scenery care of its 1,350-foot mountaintop location, this is a prime piece of real estate. Image: SilohomeĬlaiming to be “the finest retrofit of a missile site accomplished to date,” the converted Atlas F missile installation in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains certainly is a unique luxury getaway - lavishly furnished but also private and secure like no other. View of Silo Home East End with plane tied down to north. ‘Silohome’ Atlas F Missile Base, Adirondack Mountains, NY These seven former missile silos really are a study in adaptive reuse.ħ. Only in more recent years did governments consider other uses for the abandoned bases, and sell them to individuals keen to convert them into distinctive dwellings. Yet, as the first- and second-generation missile sites became obsolete - replaced by new and improved systems - they were decommissioned and left derelict or demolished. Image: Silohome via Treehuggerįrom the early Atlas and Soviet R-type rockets through to the Titan and Minutemen families, myriad missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads were manufactured and tested in an era fueled by fear. Surface view of kitchen island and fireplace. Housed beneath the surface, the missile silos were far less likely to be detected by the sweeping eyes of satellites like the 1957-launched Sputnik, the first such orbiter to circle the earth, and protected by massive, heavy blast door ceilings, they became practically invulnerable to bombing attacks and even to nuclear strikes. Image: Isaac Crummīetween the 1960s and the 1990s, while the USA and USSR remained frozen in a nuclear stand-off, subterranean missile bases proliferated like the spores of some strange, foreign fungus, technology allowing the superpowers to excavate below ground to store and deploy intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Yet, for people unaffected by such misgivings and fascinated by military history, particularly the Cold War, living or working in a disused, underground missile silo might actually hold a certain appeal. It’s certainly not something for the claustrophobic. To many, the idea of inhabiting one of these spaces may sound quirky, perhaps even a little creepy. An ICBM loaded into the silo of the Titan Missile Museum in Tucson, AZ.
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