Few of us are spies, but nonetheless, we’re attracted to gadgets and disguises that help spies—and what could be better than owning your own invisible home? The famous cloaked house is finally on the real estate market and can be yours for the low, low price of $18 million. Live inside an optical illusion and villainously rub your hands together in your secretive lair!
Even James Bond would be hard-pressed to locate the home since its exterior mirrored walls make it ‘vanish’ into the rocks and scrub brush that surrounds it. But from the inside, the walls operate as one-way mirrors, so you can see out without people seeing in—not that anyone will since this is set on 90 remote acres in Joshua Tree, California, not far from Los Angeles.
Inside this minimalist home, there is a long hallway with a 100-foot-long indoor pool (which glows an eerie club blue at night) and multiple seating areas, while in one of four bedrooms a mattress rests on a 2,500-pound glass bedframe (no dust bunnies here) In the primary suite, there’s a freestanding tub and in another suite, an all-glass shower sits in the center of the room. Privacy be damned! All furniture is included in the sale—as are the incredible views of the natural wonderland outside.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Chris Hanley, co-owner of the property with Roberta Hanley, says the home’s architecture was inspired by the monolithic artifact in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and the work of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It was built with assistance from architect Tomas Osinski.
This is the first time the 5,500-square-foot property (which is narrow and stretches in a single story for 225 feet) has been listed for sale. Previously, the Hanleys hunkered down in it during the pandemic, and it’s been rented out to celebrities and used as a filming site. It has also served as a party rental, with a movie screen at one end of the long pool and a kitchen built to feed the masses.
The only ones who don’t love this house? The birds who must inevitably be fooled by its mirrors. The Hanleys told the Wall Street Journal that there haven’t been any major accidents in that regard, but that quail do sometimes bump into the house. We suppose mirrors aren’t for everyone.
