Cape Romano Dome House
Five concrete domes built on stilts in the Gulf of Mexico in 1982. They were on land when they were built. The sea has been rising ever since.
Bob Lee built the Cape Romano Dome House in 1982 as a self-sufficient vacation home — solar-powered, rainwater-collecting, designed to survive hurricanes. The domes were on a beach when he built them. Over the following decades, erosion and sea level rise moved the shoreline. The domes are now standing in the Gulf of Mexico, accessible only by boat.
The domes are visible from the water off the southern tip of Marco Island. Boat tours from Marco Island and Naples pass by regularly. The structures are on private property and cannot be entered, but they can be photographed from the water. The best light is late afternoon.
The domes have been damaged by multiple hurricanes and are slowly deteriorating. They have become one of the most photographed landmarks in Southwest Florida — a genuinely eerie image of a house standing in the sea, the land it was built on long gone. They are a useful thing to look at when thinking about Florida's relationship with water.
