This 200-Year-Old Bunker Has Been Turned Into A Tiny Holiday House

Pass this one on to the history buff in your life – visitors to Fort Vuren, one of many military establishments built along the New Dutch Waterline in the early 19th century, can now spend the night in a 200-year-old bunker that has been transformed into a comfortable, if unusual, Bed and Breakfast.

Part hobbit dwelling and part bauhaus, the windowless bunker near Rotterdam and Antwerp is built from steel-reinforced concrete, is partially hidden under a grassy hill, and has only one entrance. Originally a part of a network of trenches and forts designed to hold off foreign invasion, the bunker was built to withstand heavy mortar fire, and indeed has survived both World Wars.

To preserve its sense of history, Dutch architecture firm B-ILD decided to leave the basic structure of the bunker intact, making only the most necessary interior adjustments.

Inside, there are four bunk beds, a small bathroom and galley-style kitchen with running water, and electricity. The low ceilings, lack of windows and bare concrete walls could easily seem grim and claustrophobic, but sleek, cleverly-designed wooden furnishings lend a cozy, astonishingly modern feel to the space.

Outside, a free-standing square deck sized to the exact dimensions of the bunker’s interior looks out over a lush, peaceful landscape of greenery and waterways.

Seems it’s well out of the war zone now.

(h/t: The Coolist)