in the State of Florida one man attempted an idea so insane that it's almost difficult
to believe in constructing a complex of supposedly hurricane-proof domes offshore
that were envisioned to stand the test of time as you might imagine things worked out
differently those of you who grew up near Naples Florida know exactly what I'm talking about you
may recall this unusual site from a few years ago a series of igloo-like Domes suspended on
stilts along the coast looking like something out of an alien sci-fi movie against a Scenic
backdrop the cape Romano Dome House was built to be self-sufficient and hurricane resistant
and though the ocean has since claimed it its history as a Marvel of architecture remains
today we discover Florida's Dome house I'm your host Ryan sokash and you're watching it's history
let's first take a look at the history of the land which the Dome House sits on Cape Romano which
gets its name from the British surveyor Bernard Roman the site is located at the top of the 10
000 Islands the cape saw many Native American canoes and Spanish vessels traveling between
Cuba and the northern beaches Juan ponza de Leon permanently mapped out Cape Romano on
the famed 1515 chart depicting La Florida the area was formally home to the Colusa tribe also
known as the shell Indians a powerful tribe that controlled much of what we now call Florida when
they were in their Peak their homes had no walls and consisted of a palmetto Leaf roof rather than
take an agricultural Focus like many other tribes they more readily fished for food along the coast
using Nets made of palm tree webbing and fishbone arrowheads to catch a wide variety of fish and
shellfish the Colusa are widely considered to be the first quote shell collectors this is because
they collected shells in large piles called Mounds some of which can still be found today unlike many
other tribes however they did not make pottery with them instead the shells were used for tools
utensils Shrine ornaments jewelry and shell Spears for fishing and hunting they traveled by Dugout
canoes made by carved Cypress logs around 15 feet long they were adept Sailors who salvaged wealth
from shipwrecks and used their canoes to travel as far as Cuba they had a population of around 50
000 and fiercely defended their land from other smaller tribes and European explorers following
the Colusa Cape Romano saw many other visitors to its land including Spanish conquistadors Cuban
fishermen and Pirates so with that context you might be wondering how exactly did those domes
come to be but first special thanks to Masterworks for sponsoring this video in many ways I feel the
story of the sea domes are as insane as the story of the 195 million dollar bullet you see in 1964
Andy Warhol just finished a series of iconic Marilyn Monroe paintings a photographer asked
to shoot them and Warhol assumed photos instead she pulls out a pistol firing a single bullet
through Marilyn's forehead fast forward to this summer one of those shop Maryland's sells for
a ludicrous 195 million dollars did you catch the craziest part of the story not the bullet but the
big picture that record-breaking sale happened amidst the worst Market start in 50 years and
40-year high inflation so why did Maryland still fetch Millions well Morgan Stanley says Fine Art
has lower volatility than any other investment industry experts say demand is extremely resilient
with import and export hitting record levels Masterworks is seeing increased demand too because
they just used Fine Art to get a 13.9 return to their members see Masterworks buys paintings like
picassos files them with the SEC and splits them into shares this isn't crypto or nfts and their
filings on sec.gov are in the description that 13.9 exit brings them to nine in total their last
three returning over 13 17 and 21 net Masterworks paintings have sold out minutes and they're adding
new offerings weekly to keep up but you can get Priority Access at the link in the description
the cape Romano Dome House began as an idea by Bob Lee in the early 1980s Lee was a retired
independent oil producer and former Navy pilot from Tennessee described by others as before
his time in the late 1970s he started purchasing Lots on Cape Romano from four different owners
to ensure he had enough space to build his home Lee was a Visionary and an incredibly adventurous
man evidenced by his ambitious plans at one point he returned to Tennessee to build a 2
400 square foot full-scale model on his property to test out the structure on the ground rather
than the stilts however it remained vacant due to a moisture problem that Lee solved in
his planning before building the actual house at Cape Romano during the construction process
Lee paid careful attention to best utilize the building's surroundings making the Dome
home as Off the Grid as possible which was quite unorthodox at the time the Dome Home was made up
of six Dome structures interconnected by wooden walkways with three bedrooms and three baths
its stilts made room for the gutters around each Dome rain would then run down them collect in a 23
000 gallon tank under the center of the Dome the water would then run through a filtration system
for showering drinking and other amenities Lee was a Pioneer using the home's Dome shape to
help protect against harsh hurricane winds you see typically during a tropical storm wind catches the
corners and edges of your average square house and this leads to some pretty awful consequences the
domes didn't have that issue thanks to their shape no actual edges could catch the wind allowing the
structures to remain stable even during big storms leaving viewed corners and buildings as
wasted space so he used the dome's shape to create an open space that felt much larger inside after
Lee brought some of the island sand to a cement testing lab and found it to be the ideal aggregate
he mixed the cement for the domes out of the sand and shell mixture the domes themselves were around
four inches thick during construction they were sprayed with foam insulation on the outside and
painted white to help keep the interior cooler during the hot summers the actual Dome shapes
were made using steel forms in between which the concrete was poured as you would expect Lee and
his family relied on boating for transportation and during construction he used a barge to haul
in Furniture building materials the metal Dome forms and even fresh water which was used to mix
the cement the Dome Home exclusively used solar panels to generate free electricity with a backup
generator for cloudy or rainy days and while well you might expect a house like this to be
lacking in technology you'd be mistaken it was a fully functional home with amenities such as
TV radio a hot tub skylights and lighted walkways to the waterfronts on each side there was even an
invention that transported logs to the fireplace through a hole in the wall in the kids den this
was of course in addition to the heated floors and air conditioning unit not to mention the hot water
heater it was built just 20 feet from the shore giving its residents a Scenic Beachside view Lee's
daughter Janet Maples had this to say about the time she spent living in the vacation home in a
weather.com article about the domes quote it was a real Adventure it really was it was an amazing
experience it was like being on another planet at night out there the Stars everything with there
being no light out there it was just absolutely beautiful sightseers and curious pass or buyers
often stop to ask questions about the home or just admired it in fact they were such a big point of
intrigue that many stories were circulated about them one such story is that machine guns guarded
the domes so with everything being so magical and perfect you might be wondering how did it go from
being a self-sufficient Marvel to a sunken Relic well let's take a look the dome homes downfall
began in 1984 when Lee sold the house to another family after which he would repossess it in 1987
when it was foreclosed upon Lee's family continued to use it as a place of residence until Hurricane
Andrew hit in August of 1992 while the dome's wall and structure remained stable the windows
were blown out and its interior was destroyed leaving it uninhabitable it would be this combined
with decades worth of hurricanes that had shifted the structure and changing tide patterns severely
eroded the foundation to the point that by 2009 the pillars were completely submerged just a year
later in 2010 half of the domes were in the Water by 2013 they were completely offshore
by 2017 they were 180 feet offshore as you can see the home's proximity to the water's edge
was a double-edged sword that ensured that the effects of beach erosion on the home weren't a
matter of if but when while building a sea wall around it would have saved the structure it would
have been costly and time consuming it should also be mentioned here that the house was simply
too much for the Aging Lee to take on at the same time more and more homes along the coastline were
also being abandoned due to the storm so things were looking abysmal the Dome House changed hands
again in 2005. this time to Naples resident John tosto who planned to renovate and restore it as a
weekend retreat there were also plans to move the house to another property still also ultimately
the domes stayed where they were and none of the plans came to fruition as Hurricane Wilma hit a
month later eroding too much of the beach for relocation to remain a possibility in 2007 the
property had fallen into such disrepair that it was deemed uninhabitable the new owner was ordered
to remove the domes unless they were brought up to code due to safety concerns he didn't go through
with the Demolition for unknown reasons and as a result was threatened with fines that reached
a reported one million dollars the following year finally property values plummeted from 300
000 in 2005 to a mere 125 000 in 2014. this was a direct result of the property's erosion in 2016
oceans for youth a naples-based non-profit began a fundraiser to move and sink the domes off the
coast to create an artificial Reef after a proposal from the non-profit the new owner
and Lisa Fleming of Naples the plan was to move each of the six domes onto barges so they could
be transferred to the relocation spot but sadly its 2.2 million dollar goal fell short and nothing
came of it in 2017 hurricane Irma sunk two of the original domes to the point where only the tops
of the Dome were visible above the water in 2018 the fate of the domes was taken over by the state
of Florida though the devastation of hurricane Ian would ultimately have the last word it sunk
the remaining four domes to their final resting place underwater with 150 mile per hour winds and
a storm surge of seven feet feelings were mixed about the domes when they fell some rejoice as
they found the dilapidated domes unsightly While others regretted losing a formal Marvel that had
been there for such a long time and though its life as a vacation home has since ended it has
found a new life as an artificial Reef Cynthia Mott sums it up best in a 2013 article titled
under the domes reading the spectacle was as surprising underwater as over I've snorkeled
Grand Cayman Mexico and Fiji yet have never witnessed a more diverse crowded concentration
of undersea life than what has taken up residence under the remnants of those domes it was as if all
the fish and Rays living along that part of the county decided to hang out in one location it was
dizzying and Splendid and gave an all-new context to the decaying domes arching High overhead Maples
believes that her father would have liked to see the domes become a habitat for wildlife in
an interview she stated quote he would feel sad to think that it was gone but I also think he was the
kind of person that would think I hope some fish can enjoy living in it I hope that something can
get some good out of it though Lee only lived in the domes for a short time he always stated that
it was well worth it for the time he had it so what do you think should these domes have been
preserved or do you agree that it's best that they were left to their new underwater existence let me
know your thoughts in the comments section below check out our Florida history playlist and don't
forget to subscribe or join the channel for more until next time this is Ryan so cash signing off