The House on the Rock - Spring Green. WIJun 22, 2012
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just flora and fauna
oven built into the wall
finally a house my size - Cheryl isn't much taller than me
| Great - Great - Great day !!! All eight of us went to see The House on the Rock. It was unbelievable and took most of the day to tour. We were whipped and our brains and eyes saturated. The tour is divided into 3 sections. The first is the Gate House, Original House, and Gardens - the second is the Mill House, Streets of Yesterday, Heritage of the Sea, Tribute to Nostalgic Music, Spirit of Aviation, and THE Carousel - the third includes still the Carousel, Organ Room, Doll House Room, Circus Room, Galleries and Doll Carousel. Alex Jordan fell in love with Deer Shelter Rock. He dreamt of a house, an artist's refuge, where he could pursue his interests in music, literature and sculpture. Around 1945 he acquired the Rock and surrounding land. He and a friend planted 55,000 trees and 55,000 scrubs to insure the privacy. More remarkable is that he built most of the house himself - carting material up the 75 foot high rock - he didn't get electricty until 1952 when he built some kind of trolley. In 1960 he gave in to public demand and opened the house to visitors. The house was only the BEGINNING. He collected and built on a massive scale. Collections include those i mentioned above plus anything else he could get his hands on. The complex consists of more than 16 separate buildings. The house consists on 13 rooms -built one at a time. Designed entirely and built predominantly by Alex Jordan it is an engineering marvel. He didn't hire his first employee until 1957 !!!! He never lived there, but he worked there every day commuting from his place in Madison, approx. 50 miles away. He entertained there, but only stayed 4 nights. There are no bedrooms but lots of places with big, long, comfy couches. His thought was "why sleep when you can work and dream". I could go on and on and I still couldn't descibe it. Two on the most spectacular things are the Carousel and the Infinity Room so I have to continue this missive. The Carousel is the largest in the world - there aren't any words to describe it's impace and presence but here are some facts: 1. 80 feet across and 35 feet tall - weighs 36 tons 2, it carries 269 fanciful carousel animals - none are horses 3. it is set adazzle by 20,000 lights, 182 chandeliers, and a 1,740 square foot mirror wall behind it doubles its brilliance. 4. the animals are 53 centaurs, 3 water buffalo, 36 peacocks, and 3 dolphins just to name a few It took 10 years to plan, construct and hand-finish this amazing menagerie. Now the last thing (finally) I'm going to talk about is the Infinity Room. Some of you may have already stopped reading by now - can't blame you but I can't stop yet. Alex first envisioned the Infinity Room in the 1940's - " one long thin toom will hang in space". It extends 218 feet out over the scenic valley, 156 feet above the forest floor. The last 140 feet of the room are entirely unsupported, simply hanging in mid air. The floor of the room has a six-inch incline from the entrance to the tip, designed so that when it it full of people it is level !!!! It has 3,264 window panes making it virtually transparent and a clear topped coffee table - all for unobstructed viewing. In case I haven't bored you enough,, I did buy the book that I will be happy to show you. Thanks Don and Joanne for telling us about this place. |
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