Where does a hardworking bro go when he needs to get away from it all? If he can't say "My underground buried train man cave," then he might be doing something wrong. So where do you get one of these places? Head to Cave Creek, AZ, where this cowboy chic equestrian estate has saddled up to the market for $727,885.
"It's one of those properties you have to go and see in person -- it's something new and really different," says listing agent Lori Cedarstrom. Built in 1967, the "Frank Lloyd Wright -- inspired" house measures 4,091 square feet. A mere 150 feet away is a series of vintage train cars buried in the dirt. Originally they functioned as a fallout shelter and connected through a tunnel to the main house.
The three boxcars have electricity and plumbing and include a bathroom, a bar that seats four, a full-size pingpong table, and a performance area for a small band. The tunnel has since been closed off, but stairs were installed so it's possible for you to saunter straight to the home's caboose.
"It's the only portion that's exposed to the ground," says Cedarstrom, noting that the cars have about 3 to 5 feet of dirt above them. She speculates the cars date to the late '60s, early '70s, or slightly older. They've been kept pretty much intact, although the floors and walls have been finished with plywood and barn board.
Brickwork leads to the exposed main entry, which was done during a major renovation in 2010 that turned the 4.79-acre property into a cowboy-friendly bed-and-breakfast. According to Cedarstrom, the renovation cost a million dollars.
The main house has five bedrooms and five bathrooms. The master suite has a balcony that overlooks the pool. The great room has a gunite fireplace, which stretches from the floor to the corner of the ceiling, designed so it appears to "extend" into the master shower upstairs, which has walls made to look like the same rocky material of the fireplace.
The sellers are looking for a buyer who would "preserve the property and really utilize it," Cedarstrom says. "I've never seen a property like this. … Here, you can see yourself dressed up in jeans and cowboy boots, riding into the sunset on trails that stream out from everywhere on this property."
And if a bomb drops, you can always restart civilization from a Santa Fe train car. Yeehaw!