Lost Vegas – One Man’s Luxurious 1970s Bomb Shelter House

The year is 1978, and the American people are living under the threat of a Communist invasion, or worse… a full scale nuclear war.

Though it may seem like ancient history, the Cold War actually lasted until 1991, and people took it very, very seriously. Children were taught to dive under their desks at the first sound of sirens. People stored canned goods and water like the world was going to end, and some people… people like Girard B. Henderson, built massive bomb shelters 26ft underground.

A Very Brady Bomb Shelter

That inconspicuous looking home you see above is a real house, yes, but far below it is a second, far more creepy home. If you’re picturing a dark, dank dungeon stuffed to the brim with canned soup and water, you may be disappointed to see that this place isn’t like that all. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s bright, clean, and looks like it was sucked straight off the set of The Brady Brunch. But if you ask me, that’s what makes it so damn frightening.

Let’s start with the exterior…

So this is the front of the house, in a way. It’s the porch of the underground portion of the house. You know, the one to protect Mr. Henderson from nuclear fallout. Yes, he thought of it all when he had this home designed, from plastic trees and rocks, to, oh… what’s that? A BBQ!

I’ve got to admit, this thing is pretty amazing. Imagine having guests over to your underground home for a meal, and then cracking open a rock to cook some food! That’s some James Bond shit right there.

No bomb shelter home would be complete without a fountain. It’s beautiful and functional. Run out of regular water reserves? No problem, just drink the fountain water. My only complaint is that he didn’t use Vault Boy as the fountain head.

In this shot you really start to see the scale of the property. There’s a lot of room to run around on the fake grass, and take in the sights and sounds of the plastic tree forest. Seriously though, can you imagine how much a place like this must have cost to custom build?

This is, uh… quite the bathroom. As you may notice, the faucets are all gold colored. Keep it classy Mr. Henderson.

We’ve talked about amazing man caves on numerous occasions, but this guy was taking the experience to a whole other level. The place really creeps me out, but if I were given the property to renovate and modernize, you better believe I would be all over this. The curtain would really have to go, though.

I can understand the desire to have so many bookshelves. After all, he may have been stuck down here for a long, long time.

Here he took inspiration from a Barbie dollhouse kitchen.

If you were rich and living in America during the 1970s and 1980s, why wouldn’t you build an underground blast proof home? At worst you have a horrible expensive underground house beneath your real house that absolutely no one would want or have any desire to live in. I mean, except for me maybe. Yes, I would have the very best man cave ever built.

Many More Photos

If you’re interested in seeing a whole lot more of this place, then check out this gallery from the Las Vegas Sun. There are almost 50 photos in total, including a much more in-depth look at that… wonderful, bathroom. If you know any other crazy homes like this, please let me know! I’m always on the lookout for unusual places like this.