Comments on: Bishop Castle

Bishop Castle

split atom — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 18:44:59 -0800

Bishop Castle. A lone man has been building a 160 foot tall castle in the Colorado mountains for the past 34 years.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 19:08:29 -0800

I think I liked the project of the guy who dug a big hole in his backyard (recently on Metafilter) and then covered it over and hung out in the hole with his rifle, occasionally shooting small animals. It had the same eccentricity quotient and was very endearing in it's own way, but took about 1/10,000 of the effort it took to build that castle. Sometimes - often - more is less. Oh well. I liked the castle-man's Thoreau quote and - with that sort of energy - it's a good thing his dreams are socially benign. But as far as castles go, the "Coral Castle" intrigues me much more, and it doesn't have any fire breathing dragons. Just big chunks of weirdly shaped coral.

By: elphTeq

elphTeq — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 19:30:24 -0800

i don't see how this scale of single human endeavour can be judged in any way except "wow". All power to the man, i don't think he gives a rat's ass about what you think anyway, troutfishing :P~

By: dorian

dorian — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 19:34:17 -0800

in some bizarre way it has a very gaudi feel to it. I like how from far off it looks vaguely classical but then close up is very organic.

By: split atom

split atom — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 19:42:18 -0800

Dorian - The reason I posted this is that I just happened to notice the castle on a drive this past weekend. Upon seeing it, the first thing I thought of was Barcelona and seeing Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia.

By: ericost

ericost — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 20:06:25 -0800

Thank you split atom!

By: shoepal

shoepal — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 20:30:54 -0800

Indeed, it is quite Gaudí. Thanks for sharing. I'll have to add this to my "must see in Colorado" list. That state's got some interesting sights, including that giant sand dune in the middle of nowhere.

By: banished

banished — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 20:34:50 -0800

I heard once there is enough energy in a human being throughout one's lifetime to tear down all of New York City and rebuild it completely. Anyone else ever hear that or know what I'm talking about?

By: kenko

kenko — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 20:44:37 -0800

A roller coaster around the outer walls? That would ruin it!

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 20:47:13 -0800

From the FAQ: Q: Will his children continue to build the castle after Jim is gone? A: NO. That is like asking whether someone will continue to paint a canvass that Van Gogh left unfinished when he died. The Bishop Castle is a unique WORK OF ART. That strikes me as somewhat odd. But then, the whole thing is "somewhat odd."

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 21:16:40 -0800

i like it (especially his stained glass), but his signs are just creepy.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 21:28:31 -0800

"I think I liked the project of the guy who dug a big hole in his backyard (recently on Metafilter) and then covered it over and hung out in the hole with his rifle, occasionally shooting small animals." AHA! I was RIGHT!

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 21:28:58 -0800

amberglow - It's odd to me that the castle-man invokes Christianity, and religion, so much. Isn't the building of momuments a sort of grasping at immortality ?.... But, religion is really about things that are quite ephemeral - not chunks of stone. elphTeq - I did like the "fire breathing dragon" .

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 21:37:09 -0800

mr_crash_davis - well, maybe about the hole itself. I don't actually agree with the random shooting of small animals part - I like to behave as if the God in all life mattered. Even in life forms I happen to consider quite delicious. If God is in all life, then God is delicious, right ? Wouldn't denying that be putting constraints on God ? Pass the hot sauce.

By: elphTeq

elphTeq — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 22:08:02 -0800

Troutfishing – I was just bein too clever by 'alf about the whole rodent-hole thing :)

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 22:28:27 -0800

trout, I don't go for shooting animals either, but I'll join you in the hole in the backyard and we'll drink bathtub gin and imagine we built a 160' tall castle. Good enough?

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 22:37:44 -0800

(sorry to buttress on this chat..) Watts Tower in LA is another example of this type of character. When he was done 30 years later he handed the keys to a neighbor and walked away.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 23:35:19 -0800

I hope we don't nuke their site. I'm guessing they have the 50Gb/mo account. Hate to cost 'em an arm and a leg (makes it tough to carry the rocks!)

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 23:55:53 -0800

Imagine the world we could be living in if only the Castle Man and the Time Cube guy would work together...

By: paddbear

paddbear — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 06:30:21 -0800

Hmm....will that make him PK Dick's "Man in the High Castle"?

By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 06:46:15 -0800

I hope I'm just as eccentric when I'm his age.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:13:45 -0800

stbalbach - now, the Watts Tower..... THAT has style. mr_crash_davis - hee hee. Don't you know, I'm never serious except when I am ? ( And then I'm often not quite ) If we hang out in the hole I'm digging in my backyard to weather the coming financial panic (or maybe some weird cloud of interstellar junk that's gonna pummel the earth soon, or - who knows? ) and drink bathtub gin, when we got drunk enough we could ambush the huge herd of huge turkeys (genetically modified ?) which roams into my backyard from the woods. They're big, and mean. I bet they'd be tasty too, if we survived. Mano a mano - me, you, and a herd of thirty-odd 40-60 pound turkeys. It's that primal, life or death struggle that makes a man a man.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 08:14:48 -0800

Oh yeah.... The castle.

By: lpqboy

lpqboy — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 11:26:40 -0800

Here's another Colorado castle. Perched above Colorado Springs is a castle shrine to Will Rogers. While visiting I trekked up to check it out, and found that inside the castle tower are ornate murals depicting Will Roger's escapades, and in the tower basement is a very small chapel. The tower looks pretty spooky up there on the hill from down in town, but the view from the top is incredible.

By: bargle

bargle — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 11:35:43 -0800

I have dozens of detailed drawings of the house that I will probably never live in. I have these insanely detailed sketches, plans of this massive castle. I have no idea why.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 13:23:07 -0800

Perhaps it represents the architecture of your wider psyche, a la Jung. You could use your castle as a "Memory Palace" .