The most private home in Seattle doesn’t have an address. No driveway, no access roads. It doesn’t even have plumbing, electricity, or heat.
It’s a treehouse in Magnolia, a quarter-mile from the nearest road. You can only get there by boat or by walking (if the tide allows it), but once you do, you find yourself in a two-story, luxury treehouse complete with 280 square feet, a kitchenette, and a queen size bed. The treehouse lacks running water, but it does have a catchment and filtration system that converts rainwater into potable water. And the view. Of course the view. It’s built on the side of a bluff just above the water, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a more exclusive, private view anywhere else in the city.
This treehouse was built for Animal Planet’s “Treehouse Masters” TV show. The property sold for $100,000 in 2013, and to develop it, the Animal Planet crew had to dock barges in Elliott Bay. The treehouse was almost torn down last year, but the owner brought it up to code, and now the chance to be your very own Swiss Family Robinson is back on the market for $139,000.
The treehouse isn’t an option for long-term living. “It’s more suitable for somebody who lives in Seattle and can bring a sack lunch and then go home,” the former owner told The Seattle Times. “Nobody should think that they are going to be able to pull off an inexpensive waterfront living arrangement. It’s not going to work.” You can take a look inside here.
