San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
LIVE INSIDE A SCULPTURE
Iconic steel house in Texas is listed for $1.75M
Built from 110 tons of salvaged steel, the iconic home known as the “Steel House” on East Canyonview Dr in Ransom Canyon, TX, has new owners— who are also the sellers.
Courtney and Blake Bartosh with Taylor Reid Realty bought the home a few months ago from the builder’s daughter, and quickly put it back on the market for $1.75 million.
“We purchased it with every intention of turning it into an Airbnb or VRBO. We have it listed while we get all of our affairs in order. We’re getting a cashout refi to finish the house, because the inside of it is not done,” says Courtney Bartosh. “If it sells for what we’re asking, great. If not, as soon as we get our refinancing done, we will take it off the market, and we will finish it.”
Whoever completes the structure, it’s a given that the finished product will be a true work of art.
“Who else can say they live inside a sculpture?” she asks. “We love the house. It’s an incredible home. Nobody else in the world can say they’ve owned something like it.”
Robert Bruno began building the structure just outside of Lubbock in 1974, but he never finished it. He passed away from cancer in 2008, and it has been empty ever since.
“Robert built an incredible house, and nobody has ever really been allowed in it,” Bartosh adds. “He built it for a reason, not to just sit there and have people drive by and look at it. He wanted people to see the inside of it. We don’t want someone to buy it and never open it up. Robert built this incredible thing. People drive by it constantly, and they should be able to go in and see it.”
The structure is a shell within a shell. Bruno built the steel exterior, insulated the inside, and then built another layer of steel. Bartosh says there is a slight echo inside.
Most of the windows are stained glass, and winding stairs connect the floors. Inside, it’s a well-rounded experience with archways and curves— nothing is square.
Bartosh says some of the walls are covered with a plasterlike substance that could allow for a coat of paint, but the steel still sometimes comes through.
“I don’t think that the house is meant to be a warm and cozy house. People are not going to go stay in it because it is