Just up the road from architect extraordinaire Frank Lloyd Wright’s estate Taliesin sits an architectural marvel that dwarfs it, in more ways than one, the creation of a man whose genius eclipses Wright’s in every respect. Alex Jordan wanted to build a house on top of a rocky outcrop in rural Wisconsin, and he did. That house alone would be unique and noteworthy, but Jordan didn’t stop there. Far from it. Possessed of a mania to create, to build, and to collect, he did exactly that. His story is reminiscent of that of Sarah Winchester and the Winchester Mystery House in that respect, minus the sinister supernatural overtones. He never stopped building. And he never stopped collecting, or himself creating, strange, unusual, quirky pieces of Art with which to fill his growing compound. The House on the Rock is far more than just a house. It could more properly be called “The City on the Rock.” It is *that* big. I spent six hours there and only saw in detail a portion of all it contains. Truthfully you could spend weeks there and not really see everything.
Let me just say, without hyperbole, that words cannot accurately describe this place. It literally must be seen to be believed. This, though, is a vampires site. You guys wanna know if there’s anything dark and gothic to see there, right? Well, you could always count the Victorian era hearses or “Black Moriahs”.
I counted ten but I’m sure I missed some. And then there are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, collectively the most creepy-cool piece of artwork in the complex. Check ‘em out.
Oh, and they have a gigantic sculpture of a whale battling a giant octopus. So there’s that.