Realtor Herm Vanderheyden marveled as he stood outside a uniquely built round house that sits on three-quarters of an acre along Bayou Texar in Pensacola.

"A lot of people just don't realize what a gem we have right here in Pensacola," said Vanderheyden of Keller Williams Realty in Gulf Breeze.

Built in 1957, the two-bedroom, three-bathroom house at 539 El Cerrito Place is one of only four homes outside of California that was designed by John Lautner, one of America's contemporary architects.

The house comes complete with its own bomb shelter, reminiscent of the atomic fears of the 1950s.

Lautner was a six-year apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the world's most prominent architects who influenced an entire course of architecture and building internationally.

Lautner, who died in 1994, had practiced architecture for more than 55 years.

His unusual and unique residential designs also left their mark on the international landscape, drawing three international architects to Pensacola on Saturday for a one-day tour of the house.

"When I first came across the Lautner-designed home some years ago, I was quite amazed to find someone who was just so specific in their work," said Canadian Martin Daoust, who was then an architecture student in France.

"That led me to want to know more about this designer," said Daoust, a John Lautner scholar and moderator of a johnlautner.net forum.

Jan-Richard Kikkert and Tycho Saariste also traveled from their native Holland to Pensacola to tour the house. They were first introduced to Lautner's work while still in architecture school. Ardent Lautner fans, the two have since toured more than 70 Lautner-designed homes worldwide.

"One can read or research about a subject, but there is nothing like having to experience it firsthand," said Kikker, whose firm is based in Amsterdam.

The international architects were accompanied on the house tour Saturday by Vanderheyden and several Lautner family members, including John Lautner's daughters, Judith Lautner of California and Karol Lautner Peterson of Michigan. Both are board members of the John Lautner Foundation, which works to carry on the legacy of their father.

Also participating in the tour was David Lautner, who co-built the house with his late father, Ernest, a prominent local builder.

"John Lautner came to Pensacola, looked at the property and then went back to California and designed what is here today," David Lautner said during a presentation about the house.

"Decades later, his creative design has been able to survive hurricanes and storms," said Lautner, who is a cousin of John Lautner.