Tornado Proof Mega-Mansion Under Construction in Missouri Ozarks

The home rising up over the Ozark hills of Highlandville, Missouri, is slated to be 72,000 square feet when completed next year, making it one of the ten largest homes ever constructed in America -- bigger than the Hearst Mansion and the White House.

Steven Huff, chairman of the Wisconsin-based TF Concrete Forming Systems, is building his version of Xanadu -- called "Pensmore" -- to showcase his company's building products. Huff's company specializes in insulated concrete forms. According to a website for Huff's future new home, Pensmore will achieve the pinnacle in "green" building technology, bringing to life "a modern version of the Jeffersonian ideal of the self-sufficient sustainable estate."

As the Springfield New-Leader reports, building permits for Pensmore call for thirteen bedrooms, fourteen bathrooms, two elevators, a 1,600-square-foot library and a 4,000-square-foot garage. The house is slated to have a 23,000-square-foot basement, 22,800-square-foot main level and 21,800-square-foot second story. The material costs alone for the home will reach upwards of $7 million.

But it's the purported indestructibility of Pensmore that really caught our eye here at Daily RFT. Once complete, Pensmore should be able to withstand an F5 tornado, according to the home's website. That's worth noting, as the town of Highlandville lies smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley and just 90 miles west of the tornado-ravaged town of Joplin.

If we were building Pensmore, we're not sure how much we'd want to taunt Mother Nature, no matter if our home was built with straw, sticks, bricks or -- yes -- insulated concrete forms.