Nolan's castle in the snow

Nolan's castle in the snow
Originally uploaded by Dirtcheapbuilder.com

From Charmaine, who sells all the great videos on eco-building and more...

The Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens, near Wilmington NC

Gmail Catherine Todd
Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens, near Wilmington NC
7 messages
Catherine Todd Sat, Apr 26, 2008 at 12:53 PM
To: Ann & Carl Hann
Dear Ann,

I did a google image search and came up with all these wonderful "chapels" to build out of glass bottles! Can't wait to get started at Lake Atitlan! Here's my search from below, I looked up NC "bottle chapel" et voila!

Google Image Search:

http://www.google.com/images?as_q=NC&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=bottle+chapel+&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgtype=&imgsz=&as_filetype=&imgc=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_st=y

For one actual site with lots of pictures:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.krepcio.com/vitreosity/archives/bottlechapel1-LONG.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.krepcio.com/vitreosity/archives/001187.html&h=300&w=489&sz=96&hl=en&start=1&sig2=FwkCBFcA0-zKOuecV8rbpQ&tbnid=zW0WPzxSsLNWsM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=130&ei=gl0TSIrPEaaied7xqcAC&prev=/images%3Fq%3DNC%2B%2522bottle%2Bchapel%2B%2522%26as_st%3Dy%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Also, if you want to see where I'm staying now in Panajachel, Lake Atitlan, go to LosEncuentros.com, click on "English" language and you will see a lot of photos of the place (beautiful) and my little upstairs studio with white fireplace and lake and volcano view. For the first time, with the "Bottle Chapel" idea, I'm not scared to go back Tues. and get started on those lots! Now you and Carl with HAVE to come over to visit as he could also build- build- build while he's there, and you can lay-lounge-spa in the big outdoor hot tub and pool I'll build with hot mineral volcanic water piped in daily. Hah!

See you Sun. for dinner somewhere, or Monday before I leave on Tues. a.m.? I hope so... Your friend, Catherine

Another web address if the other doesn't work right: www.krepcio.com/vitreosity/archives/001187.html

(hit "refresh" to get the most recent version of this page)

This section is devoted to houses and other structures created predominantly with bottles. For the most part, bottles were used because they were free and easy to work with. Despite most of their creators' limited experience in construction, and exposure to desert heat, winter snow and neglect, the houses have stood up pretty well. Many of the builders speak of a spiritual atmosphere of the buildings' interiors. When the sun hits the bottles, there are said to be kaleidoscopic rays and a stained glass effect. Bottle houses seem to be almost entirely a North American phenomenon.

Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village (Simi Valley, CA)
Rockome Gardens (Arcola, IL)
Charlie Yelton's Bottle Houses (Forest City, NC)
Tom Kelley's Bottle House (Rhyolite, NV)
Doc Hope's Bottle House (Hillsville, VA)
Plumb's Bottle Castle (British Columbia, Canada)
Other Bottle Houses

Here it is with Christmas Lights! http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2359/2085260475_e22fec7c78.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.groveproject.org/2007/12/07/airlie-christmas-lights/&h=375&w=500&sz=171&hl=en&start=25&sig2=YipXl-iXbz6hWwej_NtQ1w&tbnid=EJLxK60Vtcv4ZM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&ei=bGMTSLbgDoyaea6R1a8C&prev=/images%3Fq%3DNC%2B%2522bottle%2Bchapel%2B%2522%26start%3D20%26as_st%3Dy%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN


Bottle Chapel. Airlie Christmas Lights.jpg
171K

Book from Blair Publishing:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.blairpub.com/images/Spring%252008%2520Covers/Penderlea.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.blairpub.com/newtitles3.htm&h=151&w=120&sz=6&hl=en&start=22&sig2=lEvJKLbZzFnGF6kKAX988g&tbnid=ACwlmobRhwUlYM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=76&ei=h2MTSIz1DYvoeZGJuKcC&prev=/images%3Fq%3DNC%2B%2522bottle%2Bchapel%2B%2522%26start%3D20%26as_st%3Dy%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN


The Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens
A Tribute to Minnie Evans

Fred Wharton and Susan Taylor Block

The Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens

978-0-9791403-6-5
$19.95 paperback
9 X 7
32 pages
50+ full-color photographs

The Publishing Laboratory of UNC-Wilmington

Available in APRIL


Minnie Evans is considered one of America's most important visionary artists. Evans's take on color, mysticism, and symmetry made her garden-infused art unique. Wharton chronicles the inspiration, design, and construction of the Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens, a tribute to Minnie Evans. With over fifty full-color photographs and a narrative based on interviews with all eight Bottle Chapel artists, this book collects, for the first time, the story of Minnie Evans, her visionary art, and the garden that now memorializes her.

about the authors
Fred Wharton, a native of Great Britain, taught Elizabethan drama at Glasgow University in Scotland, and then at Augusta College in Georgia, where he chaired the English department. A member of Airlie Gardens Guild, he is married to Rosemary DePaolo, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Susan Taylor Block, a Wilmington native, is the author of a number of Wilmington history books including Airlie: The Garden of Wilmington. Currently Airlie historian, she served as a screenwriter for the documentary Beneath the Airlie Oak and is a published poet.


Also from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bottle-Chapel-Airlie-Gardens-Tribute/dp/0979140366/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209244528&sr=8-8

Book from Blair Publishing:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.blairpub.com/images/Spring%252008%2520Covers/Penderlea.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.blairpub.com/newtitles3.htm&h=151&w=120&sz=6&hl=en&start=22&sig2=lEvJKLbZzFnGF6kKAX988g&tbnid=ACwlmobRhwUlYM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=76&ei=h2MTSIz1DYvoeZGJuKcC&prev=/images%3Fq%3DNC%2B%2522bottle%2Bchapel%2B%2522%26staasrt%3D20%26as_st%3Dy%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

cover of book, $19.95


Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens.Minnie Evans.jpg
57K

George Plumb's Bottle Castle

	George Plumb's Bottle Castle

(hit "refresh" to get the most recent version of this page; click on photos for larger images)

In 1962, George Plumb, a retired carpenter, bought a one acre site in Duncan, British Columbia (Canada). He had decided to build a Castle and Taj Mahal out of bottles. A donation of 3,000 bottles from a local dairy got him started. He added soft-drink, whiskey, wine, and antique bottles (even a few television sets) to the outsides of his buildings. Five thousand bottles went into the Bottle Castle (also known as the Glass Castle) which was a small five-room house completed in 1963. By the time he was finished, Plumb was famous. He entertained visitors from around the world and made appearances on TV shows including The Tonight Show where he played harmonica for Johnny Carson. Over the years, he used 200,000 bottles. Plumb collected bottles from local industries and others were donated by neighbors and visitors. The structures around the main building included a Leaning Tower of Pisa, a well and a giant Coke bottle � all made with bottles and cement. Around the buildings were animals sculptures, some made from concrete and others carved in stone. In the gardens, there were paths between low walls that led past flower beds to a small waterfall, water lily and fish ponds, a totem pole and a small studio. After his death in 1976, the complex was maintained by family members until the 1990s. It was then sold to a couple who operated it as a tourist attraction for a few years until it fell into disrepair. Despite some interest in preserving the site, the building and sculptures were bulldozed for highway expansion.

[Other Bottle Houses] [Main Roadside Page] [Home Page]

all photos contained at this website are copyrighted and may be used only with consent

Kelly's Bottle House

	Kelly's Bottle House

(hit "refresh" to get the most recent version of this page; click on photos for larger images)

two views from ~1920s:

Around 1905, during the Gold Rush, Tom Kelly built his famous house in Rhyolite, NV with 51,000 beer bottles and adobe. He chose bottles because "it's very difficult to build a house with lumber from a Joshua tree." It took him about a year and a half to build the 3-room, L-shaped building with gingerbread trim. The original cost of the building was $2,500 but most of that money was spent on the wood and fixtures. Some of the bottles were medicine bottles, but most were Busch beer bottle throw-aways from the 50 bars in town. Rhyolite was a the center of the NV gold mining district. It went from Boomtown to Bust in just 6 years. In 1906, there were 10,000 residents but by 1920, there were only 14. In 1925, Paramount Pictures discovered the Bottle House and had it restored and re-roofed for a movie. It was then run as a museum for awhile but tourists were scarce. From 1936-1954, Lewis Murphey took care of the house and invited tourists (the beginning of the ghost town tourism in Rhyolite). From 1954 to 1969, Tommy Thompson lived there, raised eight kids and built an extraordinary garden. He was the last inhabitant. He tried to repair the house somewhat with concrete which when mixed with the desert heat, caused many bottles to crack. (Kelly had used adobe mud.) The House had fallen into miserable shape from earthquakes and weather. In 2005, it was repaired and a new roof was installed. The House is actually one of the few buildings left standing in the town. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

[Other Bottle Houses] [Main Roadside Page] [Home Page]

all photos contained at this website are copyrighted and may be used only with consent

Bottle Houses

Bottle Houseshttp://www.agilitynut.com/h/bh.html

This section is devoted to houses and other structures created predominantly with bottles. For the most part, bottles were used because they were free and easy to work with. Despite most of their creators' limited experience in construction, and exposure to desert heat, winter snow and neglect, the houses have stood up pretty well. Many of the builders speak of a spiritual atmosphere of the buildings' interiors. When the sun hits the bottles, there are said to be kaleidoscopic rays and a stained glass effect. Bottle houses seem to be almost entirely a North American phenomenon.

Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village (Simi Valley, CA)
Rockome Gardens (Arcola, IL)
Charlie Yelton's Bottle Houses (Forest City, NC)
Tom Kelley's Bottle House (Rhyolite, NV)
Doc Hope's Bottle House (Hillsville, VA)
Plumb's Bottle Castle (British Columbia, Canada)
Other Bottle Houses

Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens: Tribute to Minnie Evans

The Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens A Tribute to Minnie Evans Fred Wharton and Susan Taylor Block

978-0-9791403-6-5 $19.95 paperback 9 X 7 32 pages 50+ full-color photographs The Publishing Laboratory of UNC-Wilmington Available in APRIL

Minnie Evans is considered one of America's most important visionary artists. Evans's take on color, mysticism, and symmetry made her garden-infused art unique. Wharton chronicles the inspiration, design, and construction of the Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens, a tribute to Minnie Evans. With over fifty full-color photographs and a narrative based on interviews with all eight Bottle Chapel artists, this book collects, for the first time, the story of Minnie Evans, her visionary art, and the garden that now memorializes her. about the authors Fred Wharton, a native of Great Britain, taught Elizabethan drama at Glasgow University in Scotland, and then at Augusta College in Georgia, where he chaired the English department. A member of Airlie Gardens Guild, he is married to Rosemary DePaolo, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Susan Taylor Block, a Wilmington native, is the author of a number of Wilmington history books including Airlie: The Garden of Wilmington. Currently Airlie historian, she served as a screenwriter for the documentary Beneath the Airlie Oak and is a published poet. (also available on Amazon.com)