Photos: The practically indestructible 'Bunker Moderne' house, now heavily discounted

This partially buried home in Southern California has failed to sell after a year and is now asking $2.3 million as a downsized property, half its original price but minus some acreage and a second house. Click here for more on Yahoo Homes -- including video of a homeowner who survived Washington's inferno from INSIDE a similar concrete bunker.

In California, the main house is built into and on top of Saddle Peak outside Los Angeles near Calabasas, anchored by footings that go 16 feet deep into the soil. The owners have encouraged plants to grow on the sides and top of the structure, effectively camouflaging it from any distance.

The reinforced concrete roof is topped with plants in 3 feet of soil. The home is built around a circular “light well” -- the aperture of which you can see here -- that floods the home with natural light even though much of the earth-sheltered house is essentially buried.

"I didn’t want a house painted an earth color. I wanted one made from the earth," the owner said when the 1988 home was built. Because it conforms to the topography, it's hard to see from a distance -- an architectural style that some wags have called “Bunker Moderne." The walls are made of foot-thick reinforced concrete. The home took three years to build and is essentially fireproof, a valuable characteristic in Southern California.

You can see the light well at the center of the house the moment you enter the front doors.

Approaching the light well and looking left, you can see stairs that lead to three of the home's four bedrooms. That's the kitchen through the doorway. But first let's turn right.

The living room is down this short staircase.

The living room includes a large fireplace and windows open to the stunning view.

Roughly opposite the fireplace and windows is the courtyard created by the light well.

A koi pond is the centerpiece of the two-story light well. Besides fish, the pond plays host to the occasional frog.

This is the view down onto the pond from the rooftop garden. The windows just visible in the upper left of the photo are in the master bedroom (which is shown starting on slide 18).

The kitchen has four prep areas (not all of them pictured), a Wolf stovetop, a SubZero fridge, three sinks and a Thermador double oven. The island is topped with granite. To the right outside the picture frame is the light well, through which you can see to the living room and, beyond its windows, the mountains.

"It would be challenging—even for the biggest Williams Sonoma junkie—to fill this space," says the property website. The walk-in food pantry is practically a room itself -- or two, considering that beyond the shelves against the left wall is a secret room.

The owner refers to this as a wine storage room.

But really, it could be used as a mini-fallout shelter, or a Bat Cave.

Near the main living room, the dining room offers access to both the light well and a separate outside dining patio.

Outside the dining room, a patio provides space for al fresco dining, with a concrete overhang for protection from the elements. Open stone decks are available for sunning, swanky cocktail parties and barbecues. Vines are integrating the building with the surrounding nature. Off to the right you can see a garden area.

The garden area is at the center of a paved driveway off a private road, providing access to the home’s over-sized two-car garage and additional off-road parking.

This is the master suite -- the home’s “command post,” as the property website calls it.

The master suite features a curved wall of windows, a fireplace and a reading nook with a seating area. The doors open onto a private deck.

Beyond the master suite's deck are the rooftop gardens.

And beyond the gardens is the mountainside that falls off into the valley below.

The home has two full-sized master bathrooms, so you don’t have ever have to see your spouse in a bathroom ever again. They're connected by a curved patio, which is outside the shower that's shown in the background.

Yep, that's your shower, open to the outdoors. On the left is the master suite's other bathroom.

When even your bathroom patio has a view, you know you’re a little spoiled.

Besides the master suite, the second floor contains two more bedrooms. This is one of them.

It has access to the rooftop gardens.

The website says one bedroom "opens to a modern interpretation of a 'widow’s walk.' Look down upon the approaching drive to see who’s headed up the hill. Or stroll here to absorb the full glory of the home’s valley, sunset and moonset views."

Also on the property's 44 wooded acres: a house designed by Cory Buckner in 1996. A side patio is off to the right.

This house has 2,500 square feet of living space. It was built after the 1993 Old Topanga fire -- which left behind only the fireplace and foundation of a traditional wood house that had been on the property.

The living room and dining area. Glass walls and generous decks maximize the views. In the background beyond the dining table, below the large portrait on the wall, is a staircase leading down to bedrooms.

The kitchen, with a breakfast area in the foreground. (You can see the dining area in the background.)

Outside the breakfast area is the side patio seen in the first photo of this house.

A banquette divides the stairs from the living room, and provides bookshelves underneath.

This bedroom at the foot of the stairs is one of three in this house. It also has two bathrooms.

A deck offers an unobstructed view of the valley.

This partially buried home in Southern California has failed to sell after a year and is now asking $2.3 million as a downsized property, half its original price but minus some acreage and a second house. It survived a firestorm -- just as John Belles' concrete home did in Washington's currently raging infernos, except Belles weathered the flames from INSIDE his house. The video of Belles practically seems like a commercial for concrete bunker homes: Click here for more about the bunkers on Yahoo Homes, including video of Belles.



Also on Yahoo Homes:

• Comedian Steve Martin's artistic concrete bunker (27 photos)
• Off-grid, handmade shipping container cabin could be yours (16 photos)
• Drunken boast leads to this DIY 'Skysphere' (21 photos)