House of the Day: A Psychedelic Mushroom in the Woods

Straight out of "Alice in Wonderland," the "Mushroom House" of Perinton, N.Y., is your well-heeled bohemian's dream home. Listed at $1.1 million, the home lifts its inhabitants halfway into the surrounding canopy of trees via five concrete, column-supported pods, which are actually modeled after stems of Queen Anne's Lace, not toadstools.

Designated a Town of Perinton Landmark in 1989, the psychedelic dwelling nestles in woodland adjacent to Powder Mill Park, and above a waterfall, stream and field of flowers. James H. Johnson designed the home in the early 1970s after a local artist asked him to fashion something "groovy," "open" and "full of nature," according to listing agent Rich Testa. (He describes himself as not your "typical agent," and the $1,000 that Testa's pledged to donate to Habitat for Humanity upon sale of the home seems to support his claim.)