Art World
Would You Pay $149,000 for an Artist-Designed Lord of the Rings Hobbit House?
This requires a special buyer.
This requires a special buyer.
Amah-Rose Abrams ShareShare This Article
Artist Lauri Svedberg is putting her self-styled “hobbit house,” which she painstakingly built and painted in Minneapolis over 35 years, on the market. And, with an asking price of $149,000, it’s a total bargain (see First Edition of The Hobbit Fetches $210,500 at Auction).
“It’s going to take a special buyer,” said local listing agent Michael Gacek of Edina Realty to the Star Tribune. “I’ve sold some interesting homes in my day, and this is high on the list, as far as interesting. It’s definitely a head-turner, well-known in the neighborhood and in the artist community. It’s over the top, and I’m going to sell over the top.”
“Every single spot above ground has been touched by her hands… The home is one-of-a-kind,” Gacek added.
All of the rooms are themed. One contains a leopard print tent, another is forest themed, and there are stone mosaics throughout the ground floor and kitchen. The house, however, has been redesigned many times over the years (see Sotheby’s Puts $100 Million Price Tag On Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch).
“There was a time when there was wolf stuff all over the house,” said Svedberg to the Star Tribune. “It’s known as ‘the Wolf House,’ and I’ve been known as ‘the Wolf Lady.’”
Svedberg is relocating to Palm Springs, California, and although she wishes she could take her house with her, she has decided it is time to sell up. But, after all the work she has put into the house, she is having a hard time letting go (see Frank Lloyd Wright New Jersey House Reborn in Arkansas).
“The logical part of me says, ‘Whoever buys it has the right to do with it what they want,’” she said. “But I would be a little nostalgic. My fondest hope is that someone will buy it and keep it alive. If I walked in here in five years and it was all pink and hearts and flowers, I’d probably throw up.”