Iconic Frisco ‘Spaceship’ house burns

By Outer Banks Voice on October 20, 2022

(Frisco Fire Department)

Frisco Fire Department

This brief account of the fire that ravaged the famous ‘Spaceship’ house in Frisco was posted by the Frisco Fire Department on their Facebook page on the morning of October 20.

Sad to report, Frisco lost a piece of history last night. The “Spaceship” is no more.

Thank you to all the Firefighters for a job well done!

Chief 42

See Daniel Pullen’s photos on his instagram page.

History of the house

Originally part of a story written by Neel Keller in 2017 for the Outer Banks Sentinel.

Often called the Frisco UFO House — but referred to by owner Leroy Reynolds as “the spaceship”— the structure is officially a Futuro House, one of nearly 100 built in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Constructed of fiberglass-reinforced polyester plastic, the 13-foot-tall by 26-foot-wide homes were designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen as structures that could be easily transported, assembled and used as vacation homes. It was once advertised in Playboy Magazine as a “portable playhouse.”

The UFO house was originally bought in 1972 by vacationers Lee and Mary Jane Russo, who used it as an oceanfront cottage in Hatteras Village until the 1980s. Bought by Scotch Bonnet Campground owner John O’Brien, the house was later moved to several different locations in Frisco, where it was used as a Boy Scout meeting place, a magazine office, the Scotch Bonnet office and finally as the Scotch Bonnet’s “Footlong Out Of This World Hot Dog Stand.”

Reynolds said he bought the house in 1994. Back in 2017, as the future and fate of the structure was being wrangled over, Reynolds spoke during public comment at a Dare County Commissioners meeting.  Introducing himself as “the alien at the Frisco UFO for many years,” he began by declaring simply: “I come in peace.”

Go to comments