2009 Vince & Sue's Excellent Adventure travel blog

The House on the Rock

Japanese Garden

Infinity Room

Infinity Room Viewing Window

Infinity Room from Across the Valley

Stained Glass Lamp

Stained Glass Lamp in Living Room

Stained Glass Lamp on Stained Glass Table

Another Stained Glass Lamp

Cook Area

As Seen in the Men's Room

Part of Doll Collection

Turn of the Century Main Street

Try Tape Worms to Reduce Weight

Remember the Burma Shave Signs

Mechanical Orchestra Actually Plays Music

RC Airplane Display

World's Largest Carousel

Extended Exposure Picture of Carousel

Pipe Organ

Miniature Doll House Furniture

Miniature Circus


The House on the Rock was our tour for today. Ever since we said we were going to be in Wisconsin, Sue’s dad kept saying we needed to go to the House on the Rock. Since it was just down the road from Spring Green we went. It was worth the trip. It takes about 4-6 hours to walk through the entire complex. It’s more than a house. It’s a combination of museum and off-beat art gallery. The guy that built the house in the early 40’s was Alex Jordan. It opened to the public in 1960. They are still adding to it. The place is divided into 3 sections.

The first section is the house which as its name indicates is perched on a chimney of rock at the top of a hill. The design is “organic” in that it uses the rock as interior walls and structures in the house. In 1985 they added the Infinity Room which is a projection cantilevered our over the valley. The house is furnished with oriental art, stained glass, bronze statues, and shag covered furniture. I let some of the pictures provide more detail. The Men’s Rest Room was so neat I had to take pictures (ladies excuse the view)

The second section is sort of a museum with a huge carousel. There are displays of antique guns, dolls, mechanical banks, suits of armor, and a recreation of a 19th century main street in the evening. There are several hug calliopes and a display called the Heritage of the Sea which is dominated by a model of a sperm whale fighting a giant squid (ala 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) that 200ft long and about 3 stories tall. There is called the Music of Yesterday with the largest collection of animated and automated music machines. Many can be activated with tokens to play a musical score.

The third section starts with a World’s Largest Carousel. It has 20,000 lights, 269 hand carved animals (no horses) and is 35 ft tall, 80 ft in diameter and weighs 35 tons. You continues down a red tunnel to the Organ Room which is a weird display of 3 theater organ consoles and other pieces of machinery. This section also includes a doll house carousel that is about 3 stories tall and a Doll House museum with over 250 doll houses. Again pictures will tell the story.

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