Everything Inside This House Rotates, from the Cars in the Garage to the Bathroom and Deck

The famous San Diego Rotating Home, a local landmark and a world-famous construction built not by an architect or an engineer but by a couple of determined and very skilled DIY-ers (do-it-yourself-ers), is for sale for the first time ever. Completed in 2004, Rotating Home lives up to the name: its entire second floor rotates in either direction.

In keeping with its name, the deck attached to the second floor moves with it, and the house also has turntables in one of the garages. Needless to say, whoever buys the home will have to supply their own cars. This is a piece of luxury real estate, but it's not of the kind that comes with a fully-furnished auto gallery.

There are mobile homes, and then there are moving houses, brick-and-mortar structures that use engineering and motors to change shape to adapt to the surrounding environment or the needs of the residents. The latter type doesn't change location, but it does offer a higher degree of mobility than your typical home. A moving house, whether it rotates on its axis or slides from point A to point B, looks much cooler, too. At the kind of price these units sell for, you have to have bragging rights as part of the deal.

A single look at the Rotating Home Al Johnstone completed in 2004 will confirm that. Al and wife Janet were thrilled when they were able to buy a plot of land on the highest point of Mount Helix in La Mesa, California, because of the panoramic views it offered. Not long after, they decided on the shape of their future home. It had to be round; from that moment, it was only a small step to deciding that it would rotate to make the most of those views.

Al and Janet weren't new to building a home, but this was the first time they had undertaken such a complex task. Saying you want a home that spins on its axis is easy, but making it happen is not, if only because of the permits required.

They did most of the work themselves, but they brought in specialists where their skills and prior experience weren't enough. They also brought in experts to assess the building for structural integrity. Experiment as you will, but not at the cost of safety.

In 2004, Rotating Home was done. In the years that followed, it would become a local celebrity and then a local landmark and was featured on popular TV shows and in international media. It's not difficult to understand why: not only is the home gorgeous and luxurious, but it's the only one able to boast of such incredible views of the Pacific Ocean, downtown, the Coronado Bridge, Cowles Mountain, Mt. Palomar, and the Cuyamaca mountains, all from each room of the second floor.

At the heart of the Home is a rotating mechanism built around a 1.5 hp motor, a crane bearing with a 1.3 million-lb (589,670-kg) rating and a mercury switch, driving wheels on a steel track and moving the entire second floor and the adjacent wraparound deck. The first floor is fixed, and there's also a finished basement.

The rotating mechanism is located at the base of the elevator shaft, and it integrates the plumbing, gas, and electric system because the second floor features full living accommodations. It holds the main bedroom, two additional bedrooms, a full but open-plan kitchen with a breakfast island and a formal dining area, a gorgeous bathroom, and a game room.

The first floor has one more bedroom and a kitchenette, two bathrooms, and two garages, and could serve as a granny flat. Because Al loves things that spin (*probably an understatement), he also put turntables inside the garage. So while that area of the house doesn't rotate, at least his favorite car does.

Speaking of rotating, the movement of the upper part of the house is customizable. A full rotation can be achieved in as little as 33 minutes or a full 24 hours, depending on how much time you want to take in the views – and, presumably, your ability to not get dizzy. The movement can also be set to take place in either direction.

Because the second floor features floor-to-ceiling wraparound glazing to make the most of the surrounding views, the issue of privacy is mitigated with automated blinds. Half as a joke, Al had the blinds custom-made with life-size prints of the views, so even when you're not enjoying the view, you still are.

Rotating houses are rare but not unheard of. In 2011, when Al was doing the most interviews about his and Janet's project, he estimated there were some 40 such constructions all over the world, underlining that most were smaller in size and, as such, less challenging to complete.

In 2023, that number has increased, but the way in which size impacts pricing hasn't (duh!): Rotating Home is selling for $5.3 million. It's cheap compared to other luxury real estate we've covered here before (mostly car-centric), but it's more expensive than other moving houses.