"Nantucket's Geodesic Dome" Historic Nantucket article from the Nantucket Historical Association

Originally published in the Historic Nantucket, Vol 50, no. 3 (Summer 2001), p. 12

141 Cliff Road: Nantucket's Geodesic Dome
by Betsy Lowenstein

TO A VIEWER PEERING OVER THE BLUFF AT Tupancy Links, the house at 141 Cliff Road looks like a molecular model: three circular units joined at a central axis. What is there, however, is a geodesic dome, unique on Nantucket.

A geodesic dome is a structure that roughly approximates a hemisphere. Its sides and roof are composed of a collection of triangles and there are no load-bearing interior walls to support the roof. In contrast, most of today's homes are a combination of rectangular and triangular shapes. Traditional houses use more building materials than a geodesic dome and are not as energy efficient. With no formal front, back, or sides, the dome allows environmental stress such as earth movement, wind, and snow loading to be evenly distributed throughout the structure. The dome shape also integrates better into the natural environment.

In the case of 141 Cliff Road, the geodesic dome nestles unobtrusively (except for the visual surprise of its hexagonal roof) into the surrounding green. Unlike a traditional geodesic dome, the Cliff Road dome's bottom has been replaced by walls with conventional doors and windows.

The house is presently owned by Gary and Healy Cosay of Beverly Hills, who purchased the geodesic dome and surrounding land in 2000 from Virginia Giese. Mrs. Giese bought the house in 1967 from Richard and Molly Morgan. Mrs. Giese, who now lives outside of Washington, D.C., was attracted to the house's spare and open living arrangements and to the ocean views, beach, and enveloping land. She recalled how when she and her husband, Oscar, first purchased the house, the roof over the three rooms leaked constantly, but she fondly remembers how the bunkbeds in one of the bedrooms were regularly filled with grandchildren and guests. She misses the house terribly.

The construction date and builder of the house are unknown. The Assessor's Office lists the construction of the house as 1970, but clearly the house existed in 1967, when Mrs. Giese purchased it. A quitclaim deed from 1959 lists the land as "vacant." The house therefore must have been built some time between 1959 and 1967, presumably by the Morgans. (If a reader knows when the house was constructed, please let us know.)

It was in 1951 that Buckminster Fuller first applied for patents on geodesic domes. Since then, "the most efficient building system known to man" has grown in popularity. Suppliers and manufacturers of geodesic domes can be found on the Worldwide Web and prefabricated dome kits can be purchased. It is tantalizing to wonder about the builder of Nantucket's only geodesic dome and how the unusual and unconventional structure came to be built on Nantucket, a place better known for roofwalks than for domes.

Betsy Lowenstein was director of the Nantucket Historical Association's research library and a frequent contributor to Historic Nantucket.