The view of the center of the Goose Creek Tower. All images screengrabs from We’re Not in Whoville Anymore: Welcome to the Goose Creek Tower by Great Big Story
Phillip Weidner describes himself as a “frustrated architect,” but he’s probably a source of frustration to other architects, seeing as he built a 185' tower in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness without any plans or blueprints.“I started to build a 40' by 40' scribe log cabin, and I realized I could put pillars on top and put another house on top of a house. And we just kept going. We got to 185' and we stopped, because 200' is federal air space,” Weidner tells Great Big Story.
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Some people call it the “Dr. Seuss House,” but as Weidner told some vloggers, “it’s not a Dr. Seuss house, because Dr. Seuss is fantasy and this is real. I’ve never had any permission from Dr. Seuss to refer to him and I don’t think people should be referring to that.”
Goose Creek Tower’s Unfinished Interior
Weidner was born in a rural town in Illinois, which he left after high school to study at MIT. He graduated in 1968 with degrees in Industrial Management and Electrical Engineering before going on to Harvard Law. Then, he worked as a trial lawyer in Alaska and started his own practice in 1976, where he still works.An outdoorsman through and through, an autobiography on Weidner’s law firm’s website describes his favored outdoor activities: “skiing, snow shoeing, river running, recreational shooting, hunting, fishing, and raising sled dogs and Chesapeake Bay retrievers,” in addition to building the Goose Creek Tower on the Big Susitna River, and another log cabin outside of Anchorage.The Goose Greek Tower is a work in progress, but it still offers panoramic views, Weidner estimates one can see 300 miles from the top of the tower. “And when the northern lights are out,” he says, “then you can really see.”Watch the two-minute documentary below:We're Not In Whoville Anymore: Welcome To Goose Creek Tower from Great Big Story on Vimeo.Click here for more from Great Big Story.Related:Alaskan Aurora Borealis Makes An Awesome Technicolor TimelapseThe Northern Lights Were Spectacular Last NightAurora Borealis Timelapse Gets a Psychedelic Makeover
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