An iconic Ballan home has been demolished to make way for a proposed retirement village.
Built by Tony Clarke on a Denholms Road property in 2008, the landmark ‘dome house’ was fabricated from hemp, foam, concrete and steel.
The circular three-level home, near Ballan station and visible from the passing Ballarat line, was built to withstand natural disasters including hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados and bushfires, along with termites.
The inspiration for the home came after Mr Clarke attended a do-it-yourself dome-building course in Texas in 2001.
The six-bedroom home picked up a number of nicknames from locals, known variously as the dome house, the spaceship, the igloo, the Tardis and even the Teletubbies house.
Sitting on 5.6 acres, the home was placed in the market in 2019 and snapped up by a developer keen on the property’s potential for redevelopment.
Despite being built to withstand everything nature could throw at it, it fell victim to demolition last week when the bulldozers were called in.
– Benjamin Millar
