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Peter Eisenman's 'House II' is for sale and listed at $425,000

Up for Grabs

Peter Eisenman's 'House II' is for sale and listed at $425,000

UPDATE, 5/26/2017: The following statement was released by Docomomo US:

After a year-long attempt to find new stewards, Peter Eisenman’s House II in Hardwick, Vermont is reaching the zero hour. Devin Colman, the Architectural Historian for the State of Vermont, contacted Docomomo US this week stating, “the owner is willing to sell the house and 15 acres for $425,000 to anyone who will save the house. If it doesn’t sell, he has a buyer ready to purchase it for the land only, demolish House II, and build a new home on the site. The buyer wants to close by the end of June so he can start demolition this summer.

Only the price in the title has been amended. The article otherwise appears as it did on April 24.


Have you always dreamed of living in the cozy hills of Vermont? Do 80 acres of organic farmland and a pond sound just lovely? How about windows in your bedroom overlooking the beautiful mountains and the neighboring rooms?

If this sounds like the life for you, look no further than American architect Peter Eisenman’s experimental ‘House II,’ which has just hit the market for $850,000.

‘House II’ is the second of ten experimental houses designed by Eisenman, and one of only four that were ever built. The project was built in 1969 and the listing hails it as a “mid-century modern” home.

Potential buyers should be warned, however, Eisenman’s version of modernism in ‘House II’ relates more to Noam Chomsky’s linguistic structuralism than to the Case-Study Houses and Palm Springs aesthetic that are usually associated with the phrase ‘mid-century modern.’

Eisenman’s experimental houses were known for, well, being very experimental and challenging conventional ways of living. When designing ‘House II’ Eisenman aimed to create something ambiguous, resembling both an architectural model, an object that dwells in an enigmatic world often lacking scale and materiality, and a home, something physical and, in most cases, functional.

In order to accomplish this, Eisenman designed a series of volumes and planes around a square, three-by-three grid. The end result is a home that feels more like an inhabitable sculpture than a traditional house. Since its completion, the home has gotten a new roof (something about flat roofs and Vermont snow causing leaks) and a complete renovation to bring it back to its original semi-livable glory.

If all the above facts still do not deter you, you can visit the home’s listing on Zillow here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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