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John Milkovisch was a retired Southern Pacific railroad upholsterer who found an unusual way to make use of the items he accumulated in his home: covering his house with beer cans.
What began in 1968 as a personal project ended up becoming the Beer Can House, a Houston, Texas, structure decorated with more than 50,000 cans -according to an estimate by Ripley’s Believe It or Not!- and a garden full of details made with reusable materials. The transformation took him 18 years, and today the place is preserved as an attraction open to the public.
How a retiree transformed his house with more than 50,000 beer cans
The project arose, in part, from his refusal to waste materials and his desire to alter the environment of his home. According to the story published by the organization that preserves the property, The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, Milkovisch accumulated so many empty cans that he had containers stored in the attic and the garage.
Instead of throwing them away, he began using them as siding. Over the next 18 years, he incorporated thousands of aluminum containers into the facade and added decorations made from different parts of the cans.
The garden also became an extension of his work. Milkovisch embedded marbles, stones, and fragments of glass into concrete blocks, in addition to using redwood and metal pieces to create ornamental details. He even modified the fence, where he inserted marbles into the spaces he had drilled.
One of the most striking elements was the curtains and garlands made from ring pulls and other parts of the containers. Some were left hanging from the roof eaves and moved with the wind, which added sound and movement to the structure.
In 2001, The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art acquired the house with the purpose of preserving it as a folk art monument. The property was also recognized by Time magazine, which included it among the 50 best roadside attractions in 2010.
Can the Beer Can House in Houston be visited?
Yes. The Beer Can House is preserved as an attraction open to the public at 222 Malone Street, Houston, Texas, 77007. The information provided by The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art indicates that admission is free and that the site is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.