The joys and solitude of Alaska
April 9, 2016 8:28 AM   Subscribe

While he may "struggle at poetry" Alaska trial lawyer Phillip Weidner has built an epically poetic 185 foot log cabin tower in Talkeetna Alaska. Called the Dr. Seuss House, its actual name is the Goose Creek Tower. Previously only visible by air it's now documented by Great Big Story with the short-but-lovely video We're Not In Whoville Anymore. [via]
posted by jessamyn (24 comments total) 44 users marked this as a favorite
 
I legitimately gasped when I saw the images. After seeing the video - what a lovely man. I'm definitely inspired.

Great post.
posted by AAALASTAIR at 8:52 AM on April 9, 2016


That ... is one heck of a structure. I wonder what it would feel like in the top-most stacked house during high winds.

(Also, how many bars of signal at the top as opposed to the base)
posted by Wordshore at 8:55 AM on April 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


It's beautiful, but...... if you look closely, it appears that no level above the base building has actual windows; it's just sheets of plastic, and at least half of that is shredded.
posted by easily confused at 9:03 AM on April 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm sure that helps with stability in high winds.
posted by merelyglib at 9:05 AM on April 9, 2016 [1 favorite]



A couple highlights from his professional bio are enlightening:

In addition to my professional activities, I have been blessed .... building two large post and beam/log homes .... skiing, snow shoeing, river running, recreational shooting, .... I struggle at efforts to write poetry with an emphasis on Sonnets and am working on self-publishing a 3 volume work.

I maintain the historic Denali Fairview Inn Saloon, Dance Hall, and Den of Inequity in Talkeetna Alaska


If there's ever a world MiFi meetup, this should be the location!
posted by sammyo at 9:08 AM on April 9, 2016 [6 favorites]


I love these kind of projects. They are basically the outsider art of architecture, and only possible in places with no building code enforcement (for both good and bad reasons).

I'd love a more careful look at the actual structure -- in the video it didn't exactly look overbuilt, but the KTVA article's photos made it look a lot more robust and referred to extensive structural steel, which I hadn't noticed in the video.

I hope he is able to finish the project and fully realize his vision, and that he has some kind of plan for how to maintain it into the future. It would be sad for something so intriguing to fall into disrepair.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:19 AM on April 9, 2016 [5 favorites]


It would be sad for something so intriguing to fall into disrepair.

"Say, these hanging gardens you got here are really nice. You got like a succession plan, or what?"
posted by valkane at 9:56 AM on April 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


Putting the "tall" back in Talkeenta
posted by not_on_display at 10:20 AM on April 9, 2016


I looks like he is starting his own Shogunate. What views!
posted by Oyéah at 10:40 AM on April 9, 2016


I suspect it's the first leg of a US version of the Russian Duga radar at Chernobyl.
posted by HuronBob at 10:52 AM on April 9, 2016


I dunno, I worry he might be taking advantage of the mayor's old age and failing health :(((
posted by unknowncommand at 11:15 AM on April 9, 2016 [2 favorites]


Great big story? I see a lot of little stories!

No one does eccentric like Alaskans.
posted by spitbull at 11:23 AM on April 9, 2016 [3 favorites]


Alaska had a LOT of college-educated hippies move to the state in the late-1960s to early-1980s. His bio reminds me of many people i know from that generation.
posted by D.C. at 11:48 AM on April 9, 2016 [2 favorites]


This just seems like the domicile of a mysterious old women with magical powers in a YA novel.

If it isn't, well, let me open up my word processing program...
posted by happyroach at 12:40 PM on April 9, 2016


I really hope one of those top units houses water tanks to supply several elaborate and redundant fire suppression systems. I wouldn't want a blaze to start and find myself a few floors above it. Beautiful though.
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:50 PM on April 9, 2016


This is really cool, but I have trouble believing this is 185 feet high. 185 feet is equivalent to a 15 or 16 story building. This is about half that.
posted by tommyD at 2:16 PM on April 9, 2016


But it has an antenna!
posted by jessamyn at 2:19 PM on April 9, 2016 [2 favorites]


It's very cool. But, yeah, it's about, from my fingers-against-screen eyeballing, just over 100 feet tall to the top of the antenna. The roof peak on the 40x40 base structure is probably 30', max.

The biggest issue for me with projects like this is that the materials used to build the frame aren't really all that durable without sheathing on them. So by the time the money or time or whatever are gathered for that part, the core is already weakened. Maybe the video shows what the foundation for the tower looks like...
posted by maxwelton at 2:34 PM on April 9, 2016


No one does eccentric like Alaskans.

Puts me in mind of the great tower William Beckford, author of Vathek and heir to a great Jamaican sugar plantation fortune, had erected at Fonthill Abbey.

Beckford's tower was 300', but soon collapsed in a windstorm; Beckford's only regret was said to be that he hadn't been there to see it.
posted by jamjam at 3:25 PM on April 9, 2016


when this appeared on reddit i asked how it got past earthquake regs. apparently they don't regulate buildings for single families in alaska(!)
posted by andrewcooke at 4:34 PM on April 9, 2016


That's really kind of scary looking. Doesn't Alaska have more than its fair share of earthquakes?
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:06 PM on April 9, 2016


Jinx!
Sorry, what andrewcook said.
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:10 PM on April 9, 2016


I have two uncles who are logbuilders in Talkeetna. I wonder if they worked on this at all - and what they think of it.
posted by entropone at 6:28 PM on April 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


I have two uncles who are logbuilders in Talkeetna. I wonder if they worked on this at all - and what they think of it.

Please ask them and report back. I will keep this thread on my radar, eagerly anticipating the response.
posted by not_on_display at 10:49 PM on April 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


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