Meet the Flintstone House, a Home So Odd It Was Declared a 'Public Nuisance'

[Cattledog]

?quality=90&auto=webp

By Matt Stevens
March 18, 2019

A small town in the San Francisco Bay Area is apparently unamused by improvements that one of its high-profile residents has made to a distinctive property known as the Flintstone House.

The town of Hillsborough, Calif., perhaps seeking to avoid becoming the next Bedrock, has sued its owner to force the removal of oversize dinosaur statues, a sign reading “Yabba Dabba Doo” (the catchphrase of the animated television show’s prehistoric patriarch, Fred Flintstone) and other landscaping, according to a lawsuit filed last week in State Superior Court.

Nestled in a hilly community of about 11,000 in San Mateo County, where homes routinely sell for millions, this particular residence, with its curving lines, red and purple domes, multicolored mushroom and scattered animal statues, has long attracted attention from neighbors (no, not the Rubbles).

One could even say it is “a page right out of history.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/us/flintstone-house.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. Land of the free and all that

[dewsgirl]

2. I think it's very cool.

[TheBlackAdder]

19. +1,394,228

[Retrograde]

3. The lawn decorations are new, but

the house has been there - easily visible from 280 - as long as I've lived in the Bay Area, coming on 40 years. It's been a lot uglier in the past - IMHO the new lawn decorations are kinda coool.

[alwaysinasnit]

27. +1

[Brother Buzz]

31. It was always odd but not uglier, and it did not stick out like it does now

In it's first incarnation, it was a subdued earth color.

[BigmanPigman]

4. Idiots...if it had suddenly increased in value they would be painting

theirs painted the same colors and getting similar mushroom lights and dinosaur statues.

[Qutzupalotl]

5. Yabba Dabba Don't

[customerserviceguy]

37. Agreed

It's butt ugly, and the people on this thread who like it don't own houses in the neighborhood, I'm guessing.

Fun when the goofy stuff is messing up somebody else's property values.

[Talitha]

6. Very creative - I wouldn't mind living across the street.

LOVE that big Giraffe!

[Retrograde]

8. You can't

It's on the edge of a small canyon, so there really isn't an "across the street". The best views are from the freeway that runs past it. (I've never actually been on the street itself, but going north to San Francisco from the south bay you can't miss it.

[Bettie]

7. I like it

but people will look for reasons to hate things. The rich folk don't like attention drawn to their neighborhoods.

[KT2000]

9. we have a neighborhood feud

over a house that was painted purple. For some reason, it even made CNN. Then one of the neighbors mowed "Assh$%&e with an arrow pointing to the purple house.
I have to wonder if these people have ever lived through anything that was really serious that they can get so riled up over a house color.

[Gore1FL]

22. I remember reading about that!

This one?

[KT2000]

32. Yep - that's it

the funny thing is that our town's big festival is about lavender. Half of everything is lavender color - stores, etc.

The guy who mowed the message is a local dentist! Good way to drum up business, huh?

[diane in sf]

39. This house would be ugly in any color.

[Mariana]

41. That is true, but painting it beige would make it look much worse

than it does now.

[cstanleytech]

25. To be fair I have yet to see a decent purple paint job on a house other than older period homes.

[KT2000]

34. see post 22

Gore1Fl has the picture and mowed message. Our town is full of lavender farms and lavender stuff.

[SaintLouisBlues]

10. Sounds like he's in Barney, as the Brits would say.

from Wiki:
"Etymology unknown. Often incorrectly thought to be Cockney rhyming slang from "Barney Rubble" ( "trouble", from the character Barney Rubble on The Flintstones), it actually dates back to the 19th century and its origin is unknown."


I learned something new, thought it was from Barney Rubble.

[lpbk2713]

11. That took a lot of thought and a lot of work.

Someone in Hillsborough, Calif. is anal retentive.

[SaintLouisBlues]

12. I don't think Mexicans would mind the colors:

Paint the Town: Massive Mural Transforms Mexican Neighborhood

https://weburbanist.com/2015/07/31/paint-the-town-massive-mural-transforms-mexican-neighborhood/

[RestoreAmerica2020]

17. Thank you for what sharing. What a beautiful array of vivid colors!

...Flintstone House is unique, not the usual cookie cutter house--it's artful and whimsical.

[Gore1FL]

23. That's awesome! nt

[montana_hazeleyes]

42. Wow! Love this.

[Talitha]

43. This is awesome!!!!

[MineralMan]

13. Love it! Don't touch it!

It's unique and interesting. Screw the neighbors!

[Demovictory9]

15. me too

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. According to the article at least some of the work was done without getting

necessary permits.

That's always a bad idea, and almost always the homeowner loses.

Heck, I had a pergola built on the front of my porch, and also had some windows and doors replaced, and both companies got permits for that work. Plus, partway into the pergola build an inspector had to stop by and okay the footings (I hope that's the correct word). I wound up feeling very happy that everything was done by the book.

[alittlelark]

16. That house is visible from 280 - I used to pass it frequently

It used to be all orange, the purple is fairly new. I always liked it. 🤓

[world wide wally]

18. So, it's not a rectangle.

Is that against the law now?

[Kablooie]

20. A little over 20 years ago I used to pass that house every day on the way to work.

It was white back then but it's been on that hill for a long, long time.

[BHDem53]

21. Those critters look

better than pink flamingos.

[cstanleytech]

24. They simply need to remove the

giraffe and replace it with a pterodactyl.

[WhiskeyWulf]

26. I'd rather have that next door than a Trump campaign sign. nt

[alwaysinasnit]

28. +1000

[Ponietz]

29. Love the ideas

But tremendously unimpressed with the low quality of the sculpture

[dalton99a]

30. Leave her alone

An interior view of the home from 2017. Judy Meuschke, Alain Pinel Realtors


Florence Fang, pictured last year, adjusted one of her colorful mushroom sculptures. Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group

[BlueDawn]

33. I absolutely adore this house.

I would move there in a heartbeat!

I adore most things creative and unique, and I have a very special place in my left ventricle for "The Flintstones." Every single day after coming home from the third grade, I plopped my little cross-legged self down on the floor about a foot away from the TV screen (didn't my parents worry that I would ruin my eyes?) to watch what crazy antic Fred would be up to next. And I thought Pebbles was the cutest little thing in the whole world.

I love the shape of this house, the color, the animals in the front yard, the furnishings in the photo.

I tend to like unusual things, though.

[NBachers]

35. Every time we drive past it on 280, it's a point of interest, comment, and approval. I like it.

I'd love to live there.

[poli-junkie]

36. The house dates back to Woody Allen's

“Sleeper” — it appeared as an exterior shot and the color was a light sandy beige.

[MineralMan]

44. Wow! I don't remember that.

So, it should be named as a historical landmark. That would protect it from the "every house should look the same" crowd.

I love non-conformists of all types.

Be bold! Be weird! Make a statement!

[Maru Kitteh]

38. The purple football helmet on top seems out of period.

[denbot]

40. Oh fuck, self imposed ear worm..

From the, town.. Make it stop!