All through history there have been people, mostly men, who devote years and years of their lives building something very unique and personal. Lucky for us, these erections are built to last. For the most part.
1. Salvation Mountain
Salvation Mountain in Niland, California is the life’s work of Leonard Knight. Knight estimates that he’s used around 100,000 gallons of paint to color the adobe sculptures of biblical verses and artwork on the mountain. After becoming a Christian in 1967, Knight wanted to make a big statement of evangelism. His first project, a huge homemade hot air balloon, failed. When he decided to give up on that one, Knight wanted to leave a little something in the California desert. He made a cement monument that grew and grew until it was a hill. It collapsed because he put too much sand in the cement mix. So Knight started over, using adobe, or sun-dried mud and straw bricks. Knight also has structures built of straw bales at his mountain, and a museum made of recycled found objects. He is still adding to the monument at age 77.
2. Moving House
The house May Alice Savidge bought in Hertfordshire, England in 1947 was built sometime around the year 1450. She spent the next five years restoring it, doing a good bit of the work herself. In 1953, she was told the house would be demolished to make way for a highway. She fought the order until 1969, but then put her backup plan into action. Savidge dismantled the house brick by brick, tile by tile, beam by beam, and had it shipped 100 miles away to Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. There she reassembled her home exactly as it was in Hertfordshire. The process took 24 years and wasn’t quite completed when Savidge died in 1993 at age 81.
3. Personal Cathedral
Justo Gallego Martinez was stricken with tuberculosis and have to give up his life as a Trappist monk. He prayed to Mary (Nuestra Señora del Pilar) and promised to build her a shrine if he recovered -and he did. Martinez is building his very own cathedral out of recycled materials in Mejorada del Campo near Madrid, Spain. He has no formal training in design or construction. His is a project built on faith. Forty years later, the cathedral dome is forty meters high and the project is near completion. Martinez is aware that he might not live to see the finished product, and that lacking architectural or engineering oversight, the cathedral may be demolished after he is gone. See a video tour of the cathedral.
4. Scrap Metal Art
Tom Every retired from the scrap metal business with a large collection of vintage metal of every kind you can imagine. He created the Forevertron in Prairie Du Sac, Wisconsin. At 320 tons, the Forevertron is considered to be the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world. It’s just one of the many sculptures Every has created that you can see in Dr. Evermor’s Art Park. (image credit: LiveALittle.org)
5. The Temple
Alec Garrard has spent 30 years building a faithful (if miniature) recreation of the Temple in Jerusalem as built by Herod that stood from 19 BC to 70 AD. The original Temple grounds covered 36 acres. Garrard’s version is 12 feet by 20 feet.
For his part, Mr Garrard, 78, has dedicated 33,000 hours to constructing his model and has hand-baked and painted every clay brick and tile and even sculpted 4,000 tiny human figures to populate the courtyards.
Historical experts believe the model, which has attracted thousands of visitors from all over the globe, is the best representation in the world of what the Jewish temple actually looked like.
6. Labor of Love
19-year-old Liu Guojiang fell in love with an older woman, a 29-year-old widow with children named Xu Chaoqin. They eloped and went to live in a cave high on a mountain near Chongqing, China to escape the scandal in their local village. To make the trip down the mountain easier for his bride, Liu began carving steps into the stone of the mountainside. Did I mention it was a high mountain? He carved 6,000 steps! Fifty years later, in 2001, their story came to light when the steps were discovered by explorers. They were still in love and still living in a cave with no electricity. Liu passed away in 2007, holding his wife’s hand. Their story was serialized in China and considered to be one of the best love stories of the year.
7. The Watts Towers
I was working on this list when I was sidetracked by the Watts Towers a few months ago and wrote an entire post about them. Simon Rodia spent 34 years building the 17 structures in Los Angeles. (image credit: BenFrantzDale)
*
This is by no means an exhaustive list of one-man (or woman) projects. The world is filled with amazing structures and projects that people spend their lives creating.
Comments (27)
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In Houston a man saw the price of aluminum siding and laughed, saying Aluminum is Aluminum. He spent years covering his house with Beer cans.
Check out the link on my name.
posted by Witty Nickname on 5-26-2009 at 9:04 am
I’d love to know how the homemade hot air balloon of first guy, the one building the hand-painted adobe monuments to Jesus, failed. Spectacularly?
posted by linda on 5-26-2009 at 9:19 am
linda, I got that from the page linked in the name “Knight” (his story). He made the balloon too big and it took so long to make that it rotted and would not hold air. It went out with more of a whimper than a bang.
posted by Miss Cellania on 5-26-2009 at 9:40 am
What about Howard Finster???~
posted by Adel on 5-26-2009 at 10:16 am
You should check out Bishop’s castle in San Isabel, CO. Hard to go wrong with a fire-breathing dragon chimmeny.
posted by Josh on 5-26-2009 at 10:19 am
Then, of course, there’s the Winchester house in California. I put this link in my name.
posted by KJ on 5-26-2009 at 10:38 am
josh is totally right. Bishop’s castle is worth checking out. Imo, it’s the best place to put aside reality and to see crazy! Government conspiracies, Driver’s license evils posted on tons of signs around the entrance, stories about past witch/warlock weddings in the castle (until one group set it on fire), college age free spirit kids who make treks there to help man the gift shop. A little taste of wack-a-doo.
posted by cati on 5-26-2009 at 11:03 am
That’s right, Josh! That is just a weird castle – and yet I visit it any time I can.
posted by Ken on 5-26-2009 at 11:04 am
I will check out all suggestions for a future post (wink wink)!
posted by Miss Cellania on 5-26-2009 at 11:22 am
Coral Castle if i remember right in FL was built by one man out of coral, was a labor of love for him and his bride to live in.
The history channel has done some specials on odd houses/one man projects i think, i have slept since i saw it so i could be wrong.
Recapta :statuars power
posted by Charles on 5-26-2009 at 11:37 am
If anyone has ever seen the movie “Into the Wild” they might remember that Salvation Mountain is in that movie, along with a brief cameo by Leonard Knight himself. You can tell by watching that clip that he really loves what he created.
posted by Jacob on 5-26-2009 at 12:18 pm
What about Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden? Or “the original rhinesone cowboy” Loy Bowlin?
posted by Scott in Wisconsin on 5-26-2009 at 12:24 pm
What about Howard Finster’s Paradise Gardens? Or Loy “The original rhinestone cowboy” Bowlin’s house?
posted by Scott in Wisconsin on 5-26-2009 at 12:26 pm
Don’t see how The Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama didn’t make this list. If anyone ever has the chance to see it, you’ll understand why.
posted by Oldie45 on 5-26-2009 at 12:35 pm
Solomon’s Castle is another Florida art environment worth seeing. I hope I linked it up right with my name.
posted by crossgirl on 5-26-2009 at 1:14 pm
Check out Gospodors Monuments in southwest Washington. A very rich man spent lots of dough on 4 monuments. Flickr pictures linked to my name.
posted by Carrie on 5-26-2009 at 1:28 pm
What about Crazy Horse in SD?
posted by john on 5-26-2009 at 2:59 pm
Coral castle should definitely not have been omitted. If just for the weights of some of the rocks alone.
www coralcastle com
posted by cb on 5-26-2009 at 7:21 pm
Or this guy:
I found his little shop while traveling in New Zealand. His place is out the back of his wife’s shop where she sells knitted jumpers.
Reconstructing the Bayeux Tapestry with tiny pieces of steel from his wife’s knitting machine!
It’s all quirky to say the least and this reconstruction left me speechless.
posted by Michael on 5-26-2009 at 8:22 pm
In the 1950s, attorney John Greco singlehandedly built Holy Land USA in Waterbury, CT — it became a tourist attraction, drawing over 40,000 visitors a year. Sadly, it closed down in the 1980s and now is in ruin.
posted by R in CT on 5-26-2009 at 8:52 pm
I don’t understand the waste of time and resources of many of these projects. Esp #1. Imagine if he followed the actual teachings of Christianity and instead put that time/energy/money towards helping those less fortunate? From what I remember of the bible, Jesus wasn’t so much into the showiness as he was into quietly helping the sick and the poor.
posted by Dawn on 5-27-2009 at 3:24 am
The Coral Castle in Homestead Florida by Ed Leedskalnin in more amazing than any of these stories… google it and you’ll see what I mean.
posted by Omarculus on 5-27-2009 at 9:45 am
House on the Rock in Wisconsin is another great example, though admittedly it’s grown a bit beyond a one-man project, as a friend eventually became attached to it and is now keeping it growing past the original artist’s lifetime, with a lot of hired help. It started as an artistic retreat, designed entirely ad hoc, and then started to grow. At some point, the process took on a life of its own, and now it’s pretty much indescribable.
posted by Calli Arcale on 5-27-2009 at 12:53 pm
In Hamilton, Ontario, there is a set of manmade stairs going up/down the Niagara Escarpment known as Uli’s Stairs. They were made by a man named Uli after he lost his wife, and he maintains them as well. Not much is known about him, as he is rather shy and doesn’t talk much.
posted by Kat on 5-27-2009 at 9:26 pm
What about Rock City in Tenesee? Or more correctly, See Rock City?
posted by Sara in AL on 5-31-2009 at 5:10 pm
Mystery Castle in Phoenix, AZ is pretty awesome and has a great story as well..
http://phoenix.about.com/od/attractionsandevents/ss/mysterycastle.htm
posted by Emily on 7-11-2009 at 12:56 am
Bishop Castle is pretty neat.
http://www.colorado-for-free.com/FreeThingsToDoColorado/BishopCastle.htm
posted by Heather White on 12-19-2009 at 6:01 pm