Early Years and Education

I was born on March 3, 1914 in Madison. I went to school in St. James Elementary School. My family and I moved to Brittingham Place and then to Ely Place. While living in Ely Place, I noticed that we lived right next to a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I then went to St. Norbert’s High School in 1929. It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do in life. While I was in high school, I was uninterested and used to draw models of ships and houses. I also played football in high school as a fullback and was good at it because I became strong from working the summers with my father. After high school, I enrolled in St. Norbert’s College but only lasted a year. After dropping out, I went to UW for pre-med classes because my mother wanted me to. After the very first operation, I figured out that it was not for me and I dropped out of there also. My friend, Boyum, and I made a living selling many different things over the years. After my father was turned down to create a house by Wright, he said that he was going to put a Japanese house out on Deer Shelter Rock to get back at him. You may know by now that I am the one that built the house and added many other things to it. I finally found something to do with my life and I loved it.

Creating the House on the Rock

I received some inspiration when I was young while studying a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright. When my father showed his plans to build a women’s rooming house to Wright, he was told that he would not be hired to build a chicken coop. I decided to build the house on Deer Shelter Rock in Wyoming Valley. The rock that would later support my house was on a farm. I bought the rock area from Oscar Christianson for $300. Later, I bought the whole 240-acre farm for $12,000. I put a lot of hard work and collections into the house. I would do research on what was unique and hard to find and then I would go get collections among collections and put them into my house. There were hundreds of workers that I hired to help me build my house. I was not building the house for money or for fame, but rather to put my dreams and talents to work and grant people happiness and joy. A great majority of the money I made from allowing people to visit the house was put back into the house so that I could expand. I remember pretending to be the janitor or electrician in the house watching people’s reactions to what they saw.

Touring the House

I liked it when people came to see the House on the Rock. Their expressions as they walked through meant a lot to me. I did not like interviews and would deny many. Because of this, few people recognized me while walking through the house and I was able to blend in with the crowd. For a long while, I did not charge people to view my house and I would rent it out on the weekends. After it really got started, however, I had to charge them money so I could afford future inventions. It was not my idea to open it up to the public for a charge, but my father soon convinced me to do it. I was really against the idea at first and was even angry when it was suggested, but I came around because I needed the money. My workers and I would work on different parts of the house while people toured the finished parts. There was very few things advertising the house, yet people still came to tour the house on Deer Shelter Rock. Because of the mass amounts of people that came and paid money for the tour, I was able to expand more to the house. This led to more and more people showing up wanting to see it.

Death

My father, mother, and I moved shortly after my uncle, Anton, died. On June 10, 1963, my father died. He left his share of the House on the Rock and his estate in Madison to my mother, Lena. I had been in a collision with my Ford station wagon and a horse. I fractured many bones and my car was totaled. I recovered a few years later and got back to working on the house. Earlier in my life, I was turned down to go into the service because I had heart problems. Many years later, my heart started to fail and I died on November 6, 1989 at the age of 75. I was cremated and my ashes were spread over the House. Before I died, I sold the house to a man named Art Donaldson but continued to work on it. I did not get to finish all the projects I wanted to at the house, but I did get a lot done. I believe they can keep adding more and more to the house without me. I lived a full life and had a lot of fun working on the House on the Rock. I hope it will bring happiness and joy to many different people and that it will be a great attraction in Wisconsin.