In April 1902, at the age of 22, Sicilian immigrant Baldassare Forestiere moved to the arid city of Fresno, CA, where he would build his architectural wonder: a subterranean villa of linking gardens and living spaces that he lived in and continuously expanded until his death in 1946.

You can read more about him on the Forestiere Historical Center’s website,
and you can view a photography slideshow of the Underground Gardens here.