Alaska Man Builds Whimsical Tower Straight Out of a Dr. Seuss Storybook
What he now refers to as a “poem to the sky” began its life as a humble 40-by-40-foot, two-story log cabin.
Like many of us, his childhood was colored by the whimsical world of Dr. Seuss from the mischievous Cat in the Hat to the holiday-thieving Grinch, each tale etched its own memory into our imaginations.
What he now describes as a “poem to the sky” had modest beginnings a 40-by-40-foot, two-story log cabin nestled in the wild.
Dr. Seuss’ tales have a curious way of clinging to memory, refusing to fade with time.
There’s something really special about them.
And they’re undeniably crafted to ignite a child’s imagination stirring curiosity, sparking wonder, and nudging young minds to see the world through wildly inventive, never-before-seen lenses.
Or maybe this does not only apply to children, but also to adults.
Like Alaskan attorney Phillip Weidner.
Weidner constructed a home that feels plucked from the pages of a Dr. Seuss masterpiece whimsical, surreal, and delightfully out of sync with reality.
Though that wasn’t the intention at the start, it has unexpectedly become the area’s most iconic and unmistakable landmark.
The Goose Creek Tower
It’s hands-down the most eccentric home we’ve come across to date.
Phillip Weidner, a leading legal mind in Alaska, spent nearly twenty years bringing this architectural oddity to life and for good reason.
Courtrooms and case files kept him endlessly occupied, so he took a slow-and-steady approach, gradually assembling a tower that rises somewhere between 14 and 17 stories depending, of course, on which winding path you choose to reach the top.
What he now fondly refers to as a “poem to the sky” began as a modest 40-by-40-foot, two-story log cabin.
But once the final nail was in place, Weidner couldn’t shake the feeling something about it still felt incomplete, as if the story had more verses to write.
He could do better (and higher) than that.
At that moment, the engineer within him took the reins no surprise, considering he holds an engineering degree from the prestigious halls of MIT. From there, the only logical next step was upward. He simply had to build higher.
Weidner calls himself “a frustrated architect”.
It appears that this very trait the relentless dreamer within was the force behind his desire to craft a tower that reached for the heavens. In truth, there were multiple motivations behind the decision to build such a soaring structure.
One of the most well-known stories suggests it all began in the aftermath of a massive fire.
As the once-charred landscape regenerated and the trees around him stretched skyward, he responded in kind raising the house higher and higher just to reclaim that breathtaking view of Denali in the distance.
The second reason? He envisioned placing a telescope at the summit, alongside a ham radio station to transmit what he affectionately dubbed “Radio Free Goose Creek.”
Whatever the motivation, the tower rose layer by layer into one of the most extraordinary structures you’ll likely ever lay eyes on.
And in the builder’s own words, simple yet profound: “I want to be able to see.”
Well, mission accomplished!
As for why he stopped at 17 stories and didn’t go any higher?
The house is 185 feet tall.
Two hundred feet marks the threshold of federal airspace.
As Weidner puts it, the tower wasn’t built merely for spectacle it was meant to spark something deeper. Not necessarily a desire to construct, but a quiet urge to pursue something meaningful. Something that matters.
Take a tour as Weidner talks about his extraordinary tower in the video below!
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Article Sources: Great Big Story Suzanne Lovell Inc House And History Atlas Obscura
