Underground House of Las Vegas Collection (MS-00594)

The Las Vegas Underground House, located in Las Vegas, Nevada at 3970 Spencer Street, was the personal home of Girard B. "Jerry" Henderson and his wife, Mary. The couple lived full-time in the underground structure from 1978 until Henderson’s death in 1983.

Plainsview, Texas building contractors, Jay and Kenneth Swayze, built the house. Jay Swayze developed the "ship-in-a-bottle" building concept after being commissioned by Plainview officials to build a demonstration fallout shelter in 1961. Unconvinced that humans would survive the Cold War, he believed that the surface of the earth would one day be uninhabitable and proposed everything from underground homes to underground schools and shopping malls. Soon after the completion of the Texas "Atomic House," called the "Atomitat," the brothers formed World Underground Homes Corporation.

An underground home was a natural step for Jerry Henderson, who had a long interest in home safety and security. He contacted the brothers in 1963 and commissioned his first underground home outside of Boulder, Colorado. The same year, Henderson bought a fifty-one percent share of the Swayze's Underground World Homes Corporation and financed an underground house exhibit for the 1964 World's Fair in New York City, New York.

In 1968, Jerry and Mary Henderson moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1971, Henderson commissioned his second underground home, the Las Vegas Underground House. Planning commenced in 1973, and the dwelling was completed in 1978. The Las Vegas Underground House served as the Henderson's primary residence until Jerry's death in 1983. In 1985, Mary built a smaller conventional home on the property above the underground house, living there until her death in 1989.

Source:

Taylor, F. Andrew, “Underground Home Was Built As Cold War Hideaway,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, June 17, 2013.

"Girard Brown Henderson, February 25, 1905-November 16, 1983," accessed April 17, 2019, http://hendersonfamilytree.com/Jerry/Jerry.html

The Underground Home: New York World's Fair, 1964-1965, accessed April 18, 2019, http://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/booklets/underground-world-home.pdf