These Bizarre Florida Ruins Look Like UFOs Crashed Into the Gulf of Mexico

Cape Romano Dome House Ruins, Florida

The Cape Romano Dome House looks like something from a sci-fi movie.

Six white spheres once sat proudly on Marco Island’s southern tip. Now they’re slowly sinking into the sea, battered by decades of hurricanes and rising waters.

Here’s the story behind Florida’s floating ghost house.

The Visionary Behind the Domes

Lee retired early from the oil business with dreams of a hurricane-proof beach house. He spent two years buying four adjacent land plots on Cape Romano.

Lee tested his dome idea first. He built a full prototype on his Tennessee property.

The retired oil producer loved inventing things. His daughter Janet recalled how he created heated floors and an automatic log delivery system for his fireplace.

Lee believed rounded buildings could withstand hurricane winds better than traditional homes. No corners meant nothing for wind to push against.

Innovative Self-Sustaining Design

Lee mixed concrete with sand collected from the island beach. Foam added to this mixture kept the home naturally insulated.

Dell Jones installed solar panels that fed into a 24-volt battery system. The panels powered everything when sunshine flooded the property.

Backup generators kicked in during cloudy stretches. The solar system included special hydro caps that worked as catalytic converters.

Lee installed a SunFrost refrigerator that ran directly off the battery bank. No electricity bill ever arrived at the dome house.

People called Lee crazy until they saw his creation worked perfectly off the grid.

Advanced Water Collection System

Rain hitting the domes flowed into gutters circling each structure. This water traveled into a 23,000-gallon cistern hidden under the central dome.

Filters purified the rainwater for drinking, cooking, and bathing. Nothing wasted.

An Amcor Solon solar water heater provided hot showers and dish water. The system used no pumps, just the natural circulation of heated water.

Morning dew added to the water collection, making the home completely independent of municipal supplies. Even during dry periods, water remained plentiful.

Changing Ownership Through the Years

Lee sold his futuristic home in 1984, just two years after finishing it. Financial troubles hit the new owners hard.

The Lees repossessed the property in 1987. The dome house became their primary residence.

Bob and Margaret lived there with their daughter Jane and granddaughter. The property glowed with family life until 1992.

John Tosto bought the increasingly surrounded home in 2005 for $300,000. He hoped to save the local landmark as water crept closer.

Tosto never moved in. His plans for restoration drowned in regulations and rising tides.

Unique Hurricane Resistance

Hurricane Andrew smashed into South Florida in 1992 with 165-mph winds. The dome house exterior barely noticed.

Windows blew out during the Category 5 storm. Water rushed inside, destroying furniture, walls, and flooring.

Lee’s family abandoned the home after Andrew. The concrete shells remained standing, proving Lee’s design theories correct.

Other neighboring homes vanished completely during Andrew. One pyramid-shaped house and a stilt house nearby disappeared from the cape.

The Battle Against Coastal Erosion

Beach sand vanished year by year from beneath the concrete pillars. By 2004, water reached the stilts at high tide.

Gulf waters surrounded the domes completely by 2010. Erosion swallowed the entire beach.

Tosto planned to move the structures using cranes. His proposal placed them 50 feet from high tide and 25 feet from protected wetlands.

Hurricane Wilma complicated matters in 2005. The storm accelerated erosion and destabilized the foundation.

Legal Challenges and Regulatory Battles

Collier County officials ordered Tosto to demolish the structure in 2007. They cited safety hazards as the house became increasingly unstable.

Tosto fought through paperwork from multiple government agencies. The Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Environmental Protection, and county officials all required permits.

Protected bird nesting seasons restricted when work could happen. Tosto missed deadlines and collected mounting fines.

County commissioners grew frustrated with the lack of progress. Hundreds of thousands in fines accumulated.

Florida took ownership in 2018. The state claimed the property as the domes stood fully in state-owned waters.

Final Destruction by Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Irma knocked two domes underwater in September 2017, and only four remained standing after the Category 3 storm passed.

Water depth around the structures increased after each major storm. Erosion accelerated with each hurricane season.

Hurricane Ian hit on September 28, 2022, with near Category 5 strength. Winds of 155 mph pushed massive storm surges across the cape.

The storm knocked the remaining domes off their concrete pillars, and forty years of history disappeared beneath the waves.

Only a few pilings now poke above the water. The rest lies scattered on the seafloor.

Visiting Cape Romano Dome House Ruins

Cape Romano sits six miles south of Marco Island, accessible only by boat. Several tour companies operate from Marco Island.

Excursions often include dolphin watching and shelling on nearby beaches.

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