To put things in perspective, the Town of Hillsborough is telling the owners of The Flintstone House to “yabba dabba don’t,” as large and ugly dinosaur sculptures keep being added to an already eccentric home. Florence Fang, the owner, does not form part of a “modern Stone Age family,” but she does own the house at 45 Berryessa Avenue in Hillsborough, California, USA. She is apparently the latest in a string of owners.

Curvy home was nothing to do with Fred Flintstone

In fact, when the house was originally built in 1976, the Flintstones didn’t even feature, as it was designed by William Nicholson, an architect in the Bay Area, to be a house made entirely of curves.

Nicholson was inspired by a technique called “monolithic dome construction.” This technique leads to plaster being applied to wire mesh and a series of inflated aeronautical balloons. The house also reportedly has a “biologic kitchen,” which famed architect Eugene Tsui designed.

When it was completed, the home was painted white as in the tweeted image below. It was after the paint job was applied that the house began to be referred to as Fred Flintstone’s Stone Age home. The neighbours are definitely not Betty and Barney Rubble, however, and they are certainly not "having a gay old time."

Neighbours complain

Many neighbours have complained about the home since it was built, while passersby on the I-280 love taking photos of it.

Fang has now taken things too far by erecting several giant dinosaur sculptures in the garden – oh, and one giraffe, for some reason.

It turns out the animal menagerie violates several building codes and the municipality is taking action, calling the property a “highly visible eyesore” and saying The Flintstone House doesn’t meet their community standards.

Fang fell in love with ‘The Flintstone House’

Fang has apparently told the Mercury News that when she was driving by on the I-280, she always wondered who lived there and decided to take a closer look, after which she fell in love with the house.

Due to the nickname “The Flintstone House,” she decided to add the 15-foot dinosaurs and a huge woolly mammoth on an Astroturf lawn to keep it in the theme.

There is also, reportedly, a giant statue of Fred Flintstone himself and a massive sign displaying the iconic words “Yabba dabba doo.” Somewhere along the way, the house was also painted in an orange and purple (or is that mauve?) colour scheme.

It turns out Fang didn’t have the correct permits to add those wonderful statues and the San Mateo Superior Court says she must remove the eyesores.

Unless she can produce permits for the dinos, she's had it. CBS News quotes her grandson, Sean, as saying his grandma will do her utmost to save The Flintstone House. Said grandma and grandson are pictured below.

According to several comments on the Mercury News article, people are divided over the whole issue. Creighton Sneetly wrote that the house was a “wonderful escape from the mundane.” Another commenter said he or she was glad not to live anywhere near the “pile of dung.” Now, if I can only get the theme to "The Flintstones" television series out of my head...
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