A 1977 earth-sheltered house along the Huron River is back in the spotlight after Zillow Gone Wild featured the unusual property.
There are plenty of unusual houses in Ohio, but it’s not every day that one looks like it could have been pulled straight out of Middle-earth.
A home in Huron is getting another round of attention online after Zillow Gone Wild featured the property on Instagram, where the nearly eight-acre estate has been dubbed the “Huron Hobbit House.” The post has racked up thousands of likes and hundreds of comments, with people trying to decide whether they would actually want to live there.
To be honest, the house makes a pretty good case for both sides.
Located at 10510 Mudbrook Road, the property is currently listed for $850,000. It includes a 2,100-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home tucked into 7.93 acres along the Huron River, with about 250 feet of water frontage.
The house isn’t just designed to look like a Hobbit home. It is an actual earth-sheltered house, built from concrete and covered with soil and vegetation. The structure was built in 1977 and is largely tucked into the landscape, giving the exterior its distinctly Shire-like appearance.
Inside, though, things get a little less Middle-earth.
The home has an open-concept kitchen and living area, three bedrooms and two bathrooms, along with a wood-burning fireplace. The property also comes with an attached two-car garage, plus a separate log cabin, gazebo, pole shed and workshop scattered throughout the grounds.
And then there’s the river. The property has direct access to the Huron River, meaning the future homeowner could kayak, canoe, fish or boat without having to leave the property. The listing also pitches the earth-sheltered construction as offering privacy, storm resilience and potentially lower energy costs.
Of course, the internet has opinions about the whole thing.
Some Zillow Gone Wild commenters apparently see the property as the perfect combination of cozy and bizarre, while others have pointed out that the interior is considerably more “outdoorsy hunting lodge” than “Bag End.” One commenter summed it up as “Hobbit on the outside, Bass Pro Shop on the inside.”
But the setting is a pretty big part of the appeal.
Huron is the kind of small Lake Erie town where the river and waterfront are woven into everyday life, with beaches, a marina, the harbor and plenty of places to get outside. The city even celebrates its waterfront every summer with Huron River Fest, a longtime community festival featuring a parade, live music, food vendors, carnival rides and fireworks over the river.
So while the house may be the unusual part of this listing, the location is considerably more idyllic. You could spend the morning kayaking from your backyard, head into town for the afternoon and finish the day watching the sunset over Lake Erie.
The property isn’t actually new to the real estate world, either. The same home was listed for $900,000 back in 2023, when it also attracted attention for its underground design.
Now it’s back on the market for $850,000, giving someone another chance to live inside a house that is approximately 10% Hobbit, 90% extremely committed Ohio woodland retreat.
To check out the full listing, please click here.
