The House on the Rock, Accidently Steampunk
On wonderous joy – while I’m sure a large and happy proportion of the aethernet knows about The House on the Rock, it had managed to slip under my consciousness like a naughty child beneath a tablecloth. But no longer – thanks to Mr Vernian Process, he found the most amazing collection of photographs of this place – a place filled with so much wonder and oddness that purely by accident some of it falls soundly in the realms of Steampunk.
Huge rooms of machinery with stained glass lights and shining brass drums, stairways that function as bookcases so well that it makes me terribly sad that I live in a flat/apartment, whole barbers offices done out with fantastic stoves and whole rooms of ornamental guns, eggs, masks and puppets! My mind reels at the sheer amount of heavily emotive relics in this place – no corner left unadorned, no wall left normal and bare. A great deal of it can’t really be said to be Steampunk, but should you adore the strange and the beautiful mind of a collector, then you’ll be in very good hands. I imagine, that to actually visit the place in Wisconsin, US, would be akin to turning off your adult brain and letting a thousand fairytales paint the inside of your skull.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
I live about 45 minutes from house on the rock and have been through it once, a couple of years back (it is rather expensive to get in). The room pictured above is only one of many, many incredible rooms. You’re right, the majority of it couldn’t be considered steampunk, but the large rooms of automated orchestras (yes, automated orchestras) are decidedly steampunk. The naval room would strike a familiar chord – diving suits and possibly the largest collection of carved whale tooths and walrus tusks in the world. It really is an incredible place.
One thing about House on the Rock – it smells old. Not in a good way, either, it’s incredibly musty, like someone’s basement gone wrong. Once you get used to it, however, it has a certain . . . atmosphere . . . that smacks of antiquity. But it is amazing. Something you should experience at least once in your life – I’ll have to get back there one of these days in the not too distant future . . .
September 10th, 2007 at 3:03 am
I think this is the same place mantioned in the Neil Gaiman book “American Gods”, though then again I may be wrong, it has happened before.
September 10th, 2007 at 5:17 am
I live about 15 minutes away from House on the Rock. I have to agree with Forrest regarding the “atmosphere”. Sadly, most of the amazing exhibits appear to be very neglected and in need of literally thousands of hours of labor to restore them to their one-time glory.
A very interesting place to visit, but also a little depressing.
September 10th, 2007 at 10:02 am
I, too, live not far from the House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin. It’s my favourite place to escape to. Once a year I go up to spend a day there, not meandering through the exhibits but just at the house proper, where I’ll relax on one of the many benches overlooking the forest floor some 60 feet below & read my favourite book cover to cover.
Tickets are a little pricey these days, but you can purchase a partial & see only a third or so of the exhibits, which is rather convenient if you can’t spare an entire day to see everything.
The photo depicted above is the Organ room, & my favourite, second only to the house itself.
September 10th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Wow, I was reading about this place only yesterday (rather fortean) in American Gods …I wasn’t sure if it was a figment of Neil Gaimans imagination, it seemed so strangely magical…wish I lived a little closer…
September 10th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I had read about this place in American Gods as well.
It sounds quite fascinating; I’ll have to visit some time.
September 10th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Oh my – looks mindblowing and worth a trip! I guess, for a similar experience – less steampunky, but more authentic, as it was actually lived in for decades by the midget heiress to a fortune made on producing guns – consider the Winchester Mystery House in San José – http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/.
September 10th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
I visited the house before I read American Gods and I have to tell you that it made perfect sense — especially the trick of winding your way through the museum in a spiral pattern. There really are emergency exit doors placed here and there.
The House is also one of those steampunky things that I loved before I’d ever heard of steampunk. The animatronic collection is astounding. The carousel room is… Well, I’m not sure how to describe the carousel room. Neil Gaiman does a much better job than I ever could. I’ve never seen anything else quite like it. It was used in a video by 10,000 Maniacs, although the title of the song escapes me at the moment.
Oh, and Tinkergirl? Should you ever make it to our* part of Wisconsin, I will gladly serve as your host and tour guide, and treat you to our finest local ales.
-Sally J.
*A hearty hullo to my neighbors in south central Wisconsin: Forrest, Tom, and Jim.
September 10th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
They just don’t make things like this cast iron stove the the mica panels anymore.
And if they did….they’d be too expensive to buy.
http://i.pbase.com/u40/ysic/upload/35136271.pbase8260barbershop.jpg
September 10th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Thank you very much for the kind offer, Ms Sally!
I’d read American Gods a long time ago, but had forgotten most of it – probably means its a good time to read it again.
Thank you for the warning about the unique scent there, and it’s sad to hear that it could do with some serious renovation – the photographs somehow manage to avoid that side of it.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
I have firmly decided that i cannot ever visit this house, no matter how short a travel it is. There is a great deal I wish to accomplish in my life. Very little can be accomplished with one’s life when they are imprisoned for attempted grand larceny of an orchestra of priceless antiquated automatronic musical instruments.
I simply cannot dare tempt myself.
September 11th, 2007 at 2:49 am
Wow! Interesting post and the photo gallery is simply amazing. A lot of creative energy is stored there, a lot of great ideas. I don’t think I’ll be able to travel there anytime soon, but I’ll sure be back to look at that photo gallery again. Staggering!
September 11th, 2007 at 3:15 am
It’s great to see fellow Wisconsinites posting here.
Though I am more southeastern than southcentral being from Milwaukee. Like Practical Archivist, it’s one of those things I’ve adored since long before I even knew what steampunk was. Also located in Wisconsin, I submit for your perusal Dr. Evermor’s Sculpture Park. The Midwest seems to be home to all sorts of curiousities like this. I count myself lucky.
September 11th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
The most amazing steampunk-y thing about HOTR is all the instruments and full orchestras that *play themselves*. Just astounding. A great place to go.
September 12th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
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September 13th, 2007 at 1:54 am
[...] Time to get out of here.Peace.Tony C Share this post: Email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Published Sep 12 2007, 05:34 PM by aecatt0 Filed under: Finds,Steampunk [...]
September 13th, 2007 at 7:52 am
I wonder how amenable they would be to a weekend gathering of steampunks from across the globe. . .
September 13th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
I like Sparkovski’s idea, Brass Goggles needs to host some sort of convention or sociable gatheration.
September 14th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
It is indeed the same place as in American Gods, for those who are wondering.
The architecture of the house is amazing, and the collections in the rest of the museum are simply wondrous. I’ve been there twice and it still amazes me. The only part of it that’s not so steampunk is all the updates they are trying to do– they feel too new and not in line with the original creator’s design at all. The good thing is, there’s not much of the new stuff to see! =)
September 18th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
This place is quite amazing. I was there on a cross-country road trip a few years ago. Incidentally, Dr. Evermor used to do some work at the HotR maintaining the exhibits.
-~D~-
September 24th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
My Mom’s side of the family lived in Wisconsin and the HotR was always part of the road trip from Dallas. It was a fantastic and wonderous place as a kid that was still amazing when I saw it later as an adult.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Wow, is this the House on the Rock from in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods? I knew it really existed, but I had no idea how spectacular it is!
November 6th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
This room looks like it from inside The Tardis!
May 9th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
[...] is the ultimate Steampunk vacation or fieldtrip? The Museum Of Victorian Science? A Dinosaur Safari at the Crystal Palace [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 12:24 am
[...] is the ultimate Steampunk vacation or fieldtrip? The Museum Of Victorian Science? A Dinosaur Safari at the Crystal Palace [...]
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
[...] The House on the Rock — A very cool, very weird place with a lot of (accidental) steampunk. (Thanks to lordofallfools.) [...]
March 5th, 2009 at 2:03 am
I myself took a trip to the House because I heard about it thrice in three days from three friends who all began to describe the place so beautifully, then suddenly all three were overcome with a be-puzzled look and whispered “you just have to see it.” Very well worth the trip!!! I went fast and it took 4 hours. Again, not only worth the money, but well worth traveling thousands of miles to by Airship!