‘Blown away’: Qld’s bubble-house street most popular in Australia

The man who designed and owns a NASA-inspired bubble house was amazed when told the house’s Ipswich street had become the most popular in the country. SEE THE TOP 10.

Sophie Foster

@SophieFoster

2 min read

September 10, 2022 - 12:00AM

Graham Birchall at his futuristic bubble house at Elanora Way, Karalee, which has been named the most popular street in Australia according to realestate.com.au data. Picture: Liam Kidston

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An unassuming Queensland street that’s home to an out-of-this-world bubble house has been named the most popular road in the country.

Elanora Way in Ipswich, in the Greater Brisbane region’s west, has been named the most popular street to buy after amassing almost 32,000 views for every property listed for sale there.

The list by realestate.com.au looked at listings that drove the most views in the past year, with Elanora Way blitzing the rest of the country.

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The Bubble House of Ipswich captured the imagination of thousands of people. Picture: Peter Wallis

The street, which has an automated value modelled at $810,000, went viral globally after the bubble house at 79 Elanora Way was put up for sale with such a mind-blowing design it sparked news stories across the world.

The home was designed by owner Graham Birchall, who said it was made up of 11 domes – much like NASA-space modules – with 20 rooms and more than 1000sq m of floor space over three levels.

“I was blown away,” he asked how he felt when told the street had become the most popular in the country – most of which was due to the home he invented.

The ”windows” that Graham Birchall used to flood some of the main rooms with light. Picture: Peter Wallis.

“We have people coming on the road all the time. They stop at the gate to have a look, probably about 10 times a day.

“That’s the reason the gate came in, because people were driving into the property to have a look (previously).”

Mr Birchall said the home was “me to a tee” with his favourite round room being the office.

“They’re all around, even my office,” he said.

“I like the office because it has a two-storey library.”

Inside the bubble house in Ipswich. Picture: Peter Wallis

He said the home was built with 360,000 ties.

“I didn’t count them – I worked it out from the wire I bought,” Mr Birchall said.

“I used to make the ties at night, and then on the weekend, I invested a drill you clamp on, give a little twist and it wound up the tie and broke it off.”

Mr Birchall bought the land for $150,000 in 1997 to construct his dream house on, listing it for sale more than 20 years later during the pandemic.

He had the property listed at offers of more than $1.5m up until December last year, and is open to offers for the property.

Every element of the home embraces soft curves. Picture: Peter Wallis

The other Queensland street to make the national top 10 was Mareeba Rd in the Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove, which rounded out the list with more than 16,000 views a property listed there.

The value of the average property for sale there in the past year came in at $2.165m.