No! It’s not MY house I’m talking about.
Although it could be….
nah, MY house was made from good stuff. 150 year-old stuff. It’s actually turning into garbage now.
Anyway, this is about a rather cool and very eccentric house called the Nit Wit Ridge house. There’s a whole slew of photos on a Flickr page about it from someone who visited the place. It’s pretty wild– toilet seats for windows, a statue made from a chipped enamel bowl, a lovely metal chain-link fence that graces the, uh, beautiful front yard. Talk about salvage!
The place was made by Arthur Harold Beal, alias Capt Nit Wit or Der Tinkerpaw, and it is located, unsurprisingly, in California. He started it in 1928 (I just KNEW it started during the Great Depression, even before I read that). For 51 years, Der Tinkerpaw has been collecting another man’s junk to build his treasure palace. Hey, must be easy on the budget. Some of the things are pretty inventive. I give him kudos for creativity!
Tours of the place are free (yay!). Check the news link above for more details, if this is a must-see place to go. If you go, be sure to take photos and send them my way. It makes me feel SO much better about my rickety old place! At least I have REAL windows and not toilet seats for my fresh air! LOL
hat tip to Just Cool Design for the story.
:) I’m a married mom of four teenage children. We live in Upstate New York. We bought an old 1855 home and acre property, over 10 years ago. We've been in the slow, agonizing process of living in the home while (trying) to renovate it. When I'm not renovating, I'm a freelance writer and blogger.
We've learned to dig a French drain, plant huge flower and vegetable gardens, wire a circuit panel, install furnace ducting, understand the enigmatic complexities of the plumbing system, and more. It's been *quite* the adventure.
You can read more 
March 20, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Actually, 1928 was at least a year before the start of the Great Depression. He was a little early I guess. The stock market crash was October 1929 and things really started rolling downhill after that in 1930.
Have you ever done a story on Fonthill, Henry Mercer’s concrete house in Doylestown, PA?
March 21, 2009 at 8:36 am
i love that story! very interesting blog!!!
hey, wanna exchange links??
March 21, 2009 at 10:28 am
I really like it, even if it is rickety! I’ll have to put it on my list of places to visit one of these days.
March 21, 2009 at 11:15 am
My house is always open, too!
And I promise you won’t have to look out a toilet seat or anything…. !
Thanks for the comment.
March 22, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Now Mrs M, I know I would be happy to visit your house too!