Beer Can House, Houston, Texas.

The Beer Can House in Houston, Texas was created by John Milkovisch starting in the late 1960's. John began saving beer cans before anyone else thought of recycling them, but instead of selling them he covered his entire home with the aluminum cast-offs. He also cemented the yard and turned it into a mosaic of art details. When questioned as to why he did this he said “I got sick of mowing the grass.” As a teenager who despised grass cutting in those same years this man whould have been, to me, the perfect father.

Here I am in a shot that looks like I am the visionary creator of this artwork. This is the photo of me that would appear in some weekly alternative newspaper celebrating the genius of my vision. I have always thought it would be very cool to be the cranky old man who makes some odd folk art house and sticks his finger in the eye of the art world, but every time I start to cover my apartment building in aluminum cans the property manager calls me with angry words!

Located at 222 Malone in an otherwise sedate, even a bit high-end neighborhood, near Houston's fabulous Memorial Park, you can drive by at anytime. The sign says there are visiting hours on the weekend and the home is maintained by a local art foundation so it probably isn't going anywhere. Very cool.

Like many of these folk art creations the details of a life of creation are too numerous to take in all at once. Beer can tops linked together create the front gate to the home and provide one of endless photo opportunity details.
For many more and much larger images of the Beer Can House visit the Alan Around The World photo page!

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