Have they finally landed?! Actually, no - but Peter Dermoudy’s ‘Flying Saucer House’ probably fooled a few visitors in its day. Located on the site of the old Darwin Hospital in Larrakeyah, this unusual dwelling was quite the Darwin architectural icon prior to its destruction during Cyclone Tracy. Officially known as 'the Futuro', it was designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen during the late 1960s as a ski chalet. After seeing the house in a magazine, Darwin architect Peter Dermoudy bought one in 1971 for $20,000, thinking it would be well insulated in hot as well as cold climates. It was one of only seven in Australia. “It was like living in an Esky,” he later told ABC Darwin. Peter's dream of attaching a slippery slide to connect the Futuro to a swimming pool never eventuated and in 1974, Cyclone Tracy “it open like a cracked egg”

Picture: Library & Archives NT. Flying saucer house, Burns, Norma, 1974, PictureNT, Norma Burns Collection, PH0832/0059