If you've lived in the Bay or have ever driven on the I-280, chances are that you've spotted a particularly eye-catching house with a whimsical colorful design, just cutely perched on a hill. Located just past the Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge, this Hillsborough home is locally known as the "Flintstone House," due to its peculiarly rounded architecture and dinosaur decor-adorned front lawn.

While it may appear just like an unusually captivating highway sight, its origin and narrative actually reveals a vibrant history filled with scientific exploration, forgotten disarray, a loving restoration, and most recently, gripping legal embroilment. We've got your scoop on just how this beloved local abode came to be.

See also: 10 Surprising Fun Facts About San Francisco

View this post on Instagram

While the home may stand with its enchantingly candy-colored domes, the original color scheme was actually all off-white, and not intended to recall the Flintstones at all. The house was first designed and constructed in 1976 by architect William Nicholson, and was actually meant to serve as a new experimental architectural style, defined by its diverse dome sizes.

These domes were built by spraying shotcrete, or gunite, onto steel rebar and wire mesh frames that hugged inflated aeronautical balloons underneath. This method of construction is known as monolithic dome construction" and was first introduced in 1975. Nicholson decided to imitate this approach in his own Bay Area community, finishing the 2,7000 square foot home with a spiral staircase, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a two-car garage.

Around a decade later in the mid-1980s, the home began to suffer from serious water damage falling from the steep hillside above. Its walls cracked and the foundation started sinking, and with the surrounding neighbors' disapproval of its disruptive architecture, many hoped the home would be fully removed.

In 1987, however, a massive restoration was conducted, and in the 2000s, local architect Eugene Tsui fulfilled an entire remodeling, known as the "Edises Kitchen" project. The exterior was repainted into the iconic deep orange hues its known for today, and since then, many tenants have resided in the playful landmark, including rumors of George Lucas and several Silicon Valley leaders.

View this post on Instagram

In 2017 the property was purchased by Florence Fang, who in her 80's, worked extensively to both give the home more life and make it her own. She added large oxidized steel sculptures of dinosaurs, a woolly mammoth, and other "Flintstones" characters on the front lawn to supplement the theme, which can still be seen from the highway today.

These structures were not welcomed by the surrounding community at first, though, with many residents deeming them as "public nuisances" and fighting to stop her modifications with legal action. Stop work orders and a lawsuit were issued in 2019, with the lawsuit being settled in June 2021 that allowed Fang's figures to remain. Fang also received $125,000 in legal fees from the city, and now at 86, she has only further continued her decorative process.

View this post on Instagram

Fang has since added a Gold Rush-themed room, a Bigfoot statue, watermelon-shaped pillows, and more Flintstone characters. Her devotion to continue the imaginative aesthetics stem from wanting to evoke happiness, both for herself, and for the highway drivers who view the home's eclectic outdoors.

With the original intention for the home to be an innovative approach to the everyday house, this playful architectural feat now remains as a prized symbol of the Bay Area's bold ingenuity, eccentric creativity, persevering fortitude, and committed devotion to provide altruistic community joy.

View this post on Instagram

You can catch a view of the house going north on the I-280 and by looking to your right just past the Bunker Hill Drive exit after crossing the Doran Memorial Bridge.

See also: San Francisco Locations Seen In Film And Television