{
  "id": 2074925,
  "title": "Engineer built Ozarks hillside home in 1970; son restores it 50 years later",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/engineer-built-ozarks-hillside-home-in-1970-son-restores-it-50-years",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-19T17:13:23.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/a-missouri-engineer-bought-remote-ozarks-land-in-1970-and-slowly-built-a-reinforced-concrete-home-into-the-hillside-more-than-50-years-later-his-son-is-restoring-it-room-by-room/articleshow/133354448.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "An extraordinary underground home in Missouri’s Ozarks is providing viewers with an exceptional glimpse into an unconventional experiment in architecture, engineering, and sustainable living. The residence was carved into a hillside over several years without the help of an architect or much outside assistance. Nearly five decades after construction began, the home reportedly remains leak-free.\n\nThe underground house sits on a 225-acre property in the St. Francois Mountains of southeast Missouri. The land was purchased by Conway in 1970, and he began transforming the hillside into the home that blended into its natural surroundings. Zane Conway, the son of the original builder, recently gave a tour of the property in a YouTube video, explaining his father’s philosophy and the steps he took to create the unique residence.\n\nConway believed in building everything himself rather than purchasing conventional solutions. He designed the house to fit seamlessly into nature, not overwhelm it, but instead, live in a symbiotic relation with it. The entrance was intentionally designed to resemble the mouth of a cave, providing natural light through a massive glass wall. Steel-reinforced concrete and several feet of earth above the structure protected the home from external elements.\n\nOne of the standout features of the property is its natural ventilation system. Air enters the house through a shaft away from the residence, travels through the earth, and reaches the interior. This design helps moderate temperature extremes, keeping the interior cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Fresh-air vents are present in each room, while exhaust fans in bathrooms and shower areas remove humid air.\n\nIn addition to the underground home, the 225-acre property features other unusual structures, such as a vintage railroad caboose weighing approximately 58,000 pounds. Conway acquired the decommissioned caboose in 1991, transported it to the property using cranes, and had it preserved with its original details and railroad equipment. The property also includes a homemade airboat powered by a Cessna aircraft engine, showcasing Conway’s engineering prowess.\n\nZane Conway has taken on the responsibility of preserving his father’s unique creation, maintaining and restoring the property and underground house room by room. The underground home remains a remarkable testament to Conway’s engineering skills and his passion for blending into nature.",
  "summary": "A Missouri engineer spent years carving an underground home into an Ozarks hillside, building it largely by hand without an architect. Designed to resemble a natural cave, the property features steel-reinforced concrete, an earth-based ventilation system, heavy oak beams and railroad-inspired details. His son Zane now restores the remarkable 50-year-old home and surrounding 225-acre property.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}