spiral house

Published on: 11/11/2012

In between watching the Waukesha Common Council's basebrawl Thursday night I caught an interesting show on HGTV I'd heard about. I don't usually watch, but one segment of their Extreme Homes episode was filmed at a Wisconsin location ...

There is no other house like this one! Basically built around the mature trees on the property, this house is tall without sprawl. The interesting curves and huge expanse of glass, along with the tree leaves, helps conceal how really large this place is. The roof also holds tons of soil which helps to insulate the home.

Even though this was the most unique and unusual home I'd ever seen, something looked and sounded familiar. Situated on a hill overlooking Pine Lake in Chenequa, this house replaced an older home which was torn down. Having spent time on Pine Lake in the recent past I know a little bit about the trees and landscape surrounding the lake.

The glimpse we got of the lake in the HGTV segment didn't look too different than the land I was most familiar with.

Yesterday I drove down the long driveway to my parents' old house in Chenequa to see if the new owners had ever torn it down and rebuilt. I recall quite a delay with finding the right architect after the purchase and, last I checked, it was still standing.

Alas, their old house is now history, but enough of the yard and trees remain to make it still recognizable. The circle drive with the cement pond and waterfall in the middle is still there. Happy to see the functioning old-fashioned hand water pump still in place. All the trees are still there, just a little larger.

Upon approaching the new house though, the front door slid wide open as if by magic. Not sure it wasn't.