Architecture
4 Hobbit Houses Bring Charm to the Landscape
These quirky outposts look like they sprung up from fantasyland grass — or a movie set. Take a peek inside
You don't have to be a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit to appreciate the charm of a hobbit house. As we gear up for the movie release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on December 13, take a look at a few architectural homages to Bilbo Baggins' beloved home.
On his website, Dale notes that being his own architect let him create a design that is an organic extension of himself as opposed to a mass-produced box.
A wood burner heats the hobbit house–inspired home and casts a soft glow at dusk. Lime plaster walls and wood frames and roofing materials taken from the surrounding area give the house a rustic, woodland character.
Location: Chester County, Pennsylvania
Size: 600 square feet
This Pennsylvania homeowner and collector of Tolkien books and artifacts worked closely with architect Peter Archer throughout the design and build of this hobbit-inspired cottage. Archer and his team constructed the house to look as if it had risen organically from the stone wall.
Size: 600 square feet
This Pennsylvania homeowner and collector of Tolkien books and artifacts worked closely with architect Peter Archer throughout the design and build of this hobbit-inspired cottage. Archer and his team constructed the house to look as if it had risen organically from the stone wall.
The signature round hobbit door, a detail taken straight out of Tolkien's text, is custom made of Spanish cedar.
Timber arches frame the library, a contemplative area where the owner reads and studies Tolkien manuscripts and books.
Tour the rest of this private getaway on Houzz
Tour the rest of this private getaway on Houzz
Location: Trout Creek, Montana
Size: 1,000 square feet
What began as a below-ground vacation home for owner Steve Michaels' family evolved into the Hobbit House of Montana, where Tolkien fans can enjoy the whimsical setting. The Montana "shire" has several hobbit-house-like facades, a tree-stump-shaped troll house and small fairy houses.
Size: 1,000 square feet
What began as a below-ground vacation home for owner Steve Michaels' family evolved into the Hobbit House of Montana, where Tolkien fans can enjoy the whimsical setting. The Montana "shire" has several hobbit-house-like facades, a tree-stump-shaped troll house and small fairy houses.
Colorful murals and custom shire accents greet guests at the entry to the troll house.
The hobbit house's main bedroom has a king-size bed, a high-definition TV, satellite radio and Wi-Fi. Michaels says that you can even slip into slippers that look like hobbits' feet or wear a handmade wizard's hat similar to the one Gandalf wears in the movie.
Location: Dartford, Kent, England
Size: 183 square feet
This hobbit-inspired playhouse has a signature circular door that opens for homeowner Melani Levin's kids.
Size: 183 square feet
This hobbit-inspired playhouse has a signature circular door that opens for homeowner Melani Levin's kids.
Turf covers the playhouse roof, which flowers throughout the seasons with native wildflowers. The inviting facade is a reflection of Tolkien's first few lines of The Hobbit: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell ... it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."
Size: 538 square feet
Simon Dale constructed his low-impact home's timber frame with the help of his father-in-law, a builder. The topmost turf and mud layer ensures the house blends well with its surroundings, just as it would in the hobbits' shire. A plastic sheet waterproofs the roof's insulating layer of straw bales.
Although the house looks like it was taken from one of Peter Jackson's New Zealand sets, Dale and his family built the house as an expression of their design ethos. Fed up with paying a hefty monthly mortgage, he says that building his home from natural materials — and for less than £3,000 (about $5,000) — completely did away with builders' profits and the "cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings," as he puts it.