The Splendor that is the House on the Rock

By Lisa Kroulik © January 5, 2012

I have made the five-hour drive from my home near Minneapolis to Spring Green, Wisconsin three times in the past decade to visit the architectural wonder that is The House on the Rock. Opened to the public in 1960, The House on the Rock is the genius of creator Alex Jordan, Jr. It is built on a 60-foot chimney of rock that requires visitors to walk a 375-foot ramp to access it. Originally, Jordan hoped to create the house as a private artist’s quarters, but it soon drew attention from the public whether he wanted it or not. He finally gave in and allowed people to tour his home, charging 50 cents for admission. Although the price has increased over the years, so have the attractions.

Our Tour

My husband, teen and tween daughters and I were fortunate enough to visit The House on the Rock on New Year’s Eve while it was still decked out with holiday decorations. Advertising for the Christmas tour boasted that there were over 6,000 Santas on display and I don’t doubt that. There were free-standing Santas, Santas as tree ornaments, Santa coffee mugs, Oriental Santas and just about every other form of St. Nick that you could imagine. The House on the Rock tends to be dark inside due to its construction, but with Christmas lights at every turn, it lit up nicely.

The Attractions

As we walked through the house, we were treated to one breathtaking room after another of collectibles from all over the world. I can’t imagine the income Alex Jordan must have had to be able to amass collections like these. We walked through rooms with names like The Mill House, Tribute to Nostalgia, Music of Yesterday, Heritage of the Sea, The Spirit of Aviation, The Oriental Room, The Doll House Room and several others. Perhaps the two biggest attractions at The House on the Rock are the Carousel Room and The Infinity Room.

The last room of the tour parks guests squarely in front of the world’s largest carousel. Unlike most carousels, this one doesn’t have a single horse on it. Instead, it contains 269 other handcrafted animals along with 182 chandeliers and 20,000 lights, most of which are red. As with every other attraction at House on the Rock, the carousel was not built overnight. It took more than 10 years to plan and construct the 36-ton structure that no one rides on except for a few inflatable Santas at Christmas time.

The 14^th room at The House on the Rock was not added until 1985, four years before creator Alex Jordan’s death. It extends 218 feet from the end of the house and gradually narrows as visitors walk out to the tip at the end of it. Although we could actually feel the wind blowing it, The Infinity Room holds 200 pounds per cubic foot and is very safe to walk on. The walls are actually windows and there are more than 3,000 of them.

Alex Jordan, Jr. retained ownership of the house until 1988 when he sold it to Art and Karen Donaldson. Jordan passed away in 1989 at the age of 75. The Donaldson family continues to operate The House on the Rock and promote the original dreams and visions that Jordan had when he created this masterpiece.