If you are heading from Rockwall to Quinlan you might happen to see an abandoned flying saucer along the highway. This little flying saucer is actually the Futuro House in Royse City, Texas and its a local landmark that has been sitting there for decades. People from all over the country and around the world when visiting the DFW area have stopped by just to see this unique little house.

Who Created the Futuro House?

The Futuro is a flying saucer shaped, prefabricated house designed by Matti Suuronen in 1968 and was in production until 1973 when the oil crisis caused the halt in the production of these futuristic houses. Due to the short amount of time on the market and a horrible market campaign there were only about a hundred of these produced.

Today, there is a small group fans that keep track of these houses and have recorded that there are less than fifty of them left around the world. The houses were made from fiberglass reinforced polyester plastic that Suuronen had used in past projects.

The Futuro was designed in way that it was easy to transport and could easily be assembled on site in two days. Or if you had the money, you could have it assembled at the air field and it could be airlifted to a hard to reach location. All you need is four concrete piers and you could place this house almost anywhere.

Since the house used an integrated polyurethane insulation and electric heating system, the house could be heated and cooled in thirty minutes.

Why The Futuro House?

Futuro House in Royse City, Texas

Picture by ©Cindy Quillen – The Futuro House at Night

The Futuro was created in a time when technology advancing by leaps and bounds, space exploration, economic growth, and people had more free time. So Matti Suuronen was commissioned to design a ski cabin that was “quick to heat and easy to construct in rough terrain.” And in my opinion he created a trendy house that is not only art, but might popular today for those that love art or someone who  just want something that looks like a UFO.

The Remains of the Futuro House in Royse City, Texas

As you can see, the Futuro House in Royse City, Texas is in rough shape. From the research of this particular house, its been sitting in this spot since the 1970s. I’ve have been told by several different locals that this old Futuro served as used a car lot office at one time. 

Futuro House in Royse City, Texas

Futuro House – Shot taken in 2012

Over the years the owner has replaced the windows and painted the Futuro House. But vandals have come and busted out the windows and spray painted over the newly painted surfaces (per a local resident.)

In the summer of 2014, the owner repainted it a nice orange color but the interior was untouched. But within a few months it was vandalized and over the last few it has gotten worse.

Futuro House in Royse City, Texas

Futuro House in Royse City, Texas a few weekds after the owner painted the exterior in 2014.

 

The house in rough shape and people have left their thoughts on the wall of the old house. Even though the Futuro House in rough shape, its far from lost.

Futuro House

Interior Shot of the Futuro House – Photo taken in 2012

If you know anything about this Futuro house, please contact me. I would like to contact the owner to talk with him/her about the house and if he plans to do anything with it, or knows something about the history of the house, I would like to track its history, document, and possibly find pictures of this house when it was being used.

To see more images from this shoot and to purchase any of these images, check them out on Flickr.

This article is active and will be updated each time we receive new information that can be verified.

Author’s Note: This article was originally posted on my personal blog – Abandoned Futuro House Found in Royse City Texas on 2nd, 2012. This article has been updated with new images and a small amount of updated information about the house. Updates added 5/16th/2016 and 08/15/2018.

Please Note: This article was originally written back in May 16th, 2015 on VanishingTexas.com. That site is no longer affiliated with us. All content from that site is slowly being migrated and updated to this site. All photos featured on this article were taken a few years before April 2016 unless noted.

About the Images

Additional pictures added by photographer and friend Cindy Quillen and used with her permission for this site only. Her pictures were shot mostly with a tripod and color flashes (for night shots) to create the look of an UFO over the last couple of years. Check her out on the authors and photographer page and check out her current work. Abandoned Futuro House near Royce City, Texas - On Lock Down - Taken in July 2014

My images were shot using an older Canon Rebel T1i and EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens or with a Sony NEX-3N and a Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8 lens over a two year period. I then edited the image in Adobe Lightroom. I post processed with Topaz Clarity to add texture, brighten, and bring out the details in the image. Then I removed the dust spots. Finally, I used Topaz DeNoise to remove the noise from the image.