Arizona’s Soaring Falcon Nest Is the Tallest Home in the U.S.

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For those unfamiliar with the suburbs, neighbors there often engage in a friendly arms race to keep their house looking the best on the block. Some try to keep their lawns finely manicured. Some try new shades of paint. However, a suburbanite in Arizona decisively solved the problem by building a house so tall you can’t even see any neighbors.

The house, Sukumur Pal’s Falcon Nest in Prescott, AZ, is now looking for a buyer to swoop in. The cliffside home in the Sierra Prieta mountain range is on the market for $1.5 million.

Sitting on just over an acre along a section of the range called Thumb Butte and standing tall at 124 feet, Falcon Nest is the tallest home in the U.S., according to Architectural Digest.

“It’s breathtaking how someone could design something this tall in a residential area,” said Frank Aazami, the listing agent.

Built in 1994, Falcon Nest boasts a 2,000-square-foot solarium and offers spectacular vistas of the Arizona desert and hills for over 120 miles—views the neighbors below can only fantasize about.

But to enjoy those views, first you have to get up there.

The Falcon Nest at night

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At the base of the home is a unique hydraulic elevator which transports riders to and from the solarium. Head up farther and you’ll find a rooftop landing where you can view Prescott’s natural surroundings. At 6,200 square feet, the Falcon Nest is a marvel of green technology and design.

Following energy-efficient design, the entire structure contains no wood—only steel, concrete, and glass.

Pal, an architect, immigrated to Arizona from his native Kolkata in 1969. Inspired by his education in India, Pal aimed to build his house from the ground up with as little a carbon footprint as possible. He could’ve just settled for solar panels, a low-flow toilet, and water-saving shower heads. Instead, Pal built a property far more ingenious.

Kitchen

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The result is not only a massive structure, but one that’s energy-efficient as well. Pal’s solarium keeps heat out, but takes in the brilliant Arizona sunlight. He covered his roof in solar panels long before the technology became a mainstay in residential homes nationwide.

The house’s towerlike design funnels warm air up and out of the house by convection, a necessity in Arizona, where summer temperatures can top 90 degrees Fahrenheit. And when winter temps dip below freezing, the same technology keeps heat inside the house. It’s a house that’s unlikely to be duplicated due to its intricacy.

“Who do you know would design something to have gravity be the driving force of movement of air?” Aazami asked. “It’s something [Pal] thought about all his life and wanted to get it accomplished. It was a lifetime achievement.”

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