Something Beautiful

It's just a privilege to try to make something beautiful. ~ Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke source Wikipedia

On November 12th, Native Texan, Ethan Hawke made an appearance at the Cinema Arts Festival of Houston for the screening of his new film, The Woman in the Fifth. In his introduction, longtime friend and collaborator, Richard Linklater, spoke about the actor's many talents as a writer, director, and watercolorist. Hawke spoke candidly with his audience in a Q & A session which followed the film. Speaking of his art, he said that it was a privilege to create, and in that context, he mentioned that he had visited The Beer Can House, a Visionary Art construction, with his family while here in Houston.

Ethan spoke about Mr. John Milkovisch and the creative genius involved in making art. Following Mr. Hawke's lead, I visited the Beer Can House. It was so very interesting, that I felt it should be covered on ArchitectURL.

Beer Can House Front View

Concrete & marble detail

John Milkovisch and his wife Mary lived their entire married life and raised three children in the Memorial Park neighborhood at 222 Malone Street. John, a retired upholsterer from Texas & New Orleans Railroad, began the project in 1968 when he installed a covered patio to enjoy a beer after work. Using concrete and marbles, he created the flooring for the patio. After creating this space, the project simply grew out of John's imagination. Using over 40,000 marbles, he created a colorful fence around the house and then progressed to a sidewalk connecting the driveway to the patio and house. When asked about the concrete yard, Mary Maikovisch once said, "I don't think he wanted to mow the grass."

Rear view of House with Curtain wall of beer can squares

The paving project which grew out of John's imagination didn't stop, when he decided to reside the house with beer cans, he started with a small row of them on one side in order to introduce his wife slowly to the idea according to son, Ronald. As in so many of his other projects, it started to grow organically, and soon the house was covered in flattened beer cans. Working from early morning until the afternoon, John saved later hours in the day to sharing a few brewski's with Mary and the neighbors.

 

Can Top Curtain

After cutting the tops of the cans off, he would open the side of the can and flatten it to make a sort of shingle which he would attach to the house. The tops and rings were saved and later strung to make the can top curtain along the eaves of the house. This curtain serves the purpose of shading the house and making it more energy efficient; it also adds a charming susurrous almost like the ghostly presence of John Milkovisch who never left his beloved home. 

Pretty Visitor on Front Porch Swing

While visiting the Beer Can House, I happend to meet Ronald Milkovisch, eldest son of John and Mary, who was just stopping by the gift shop with a delivery of hand crafted earrings which he makes from, you guessed it, beer bottle caps. He kindly took time to tell several stories about his mother and father and the landmark home. Ronald, an engineer by profession, once made a design suggestion to his father as they were drinking a beer. His father replied, "You just sit there and drink your beer, and I'll design the house."



Ronald Milkovisch

The Ladder to Success



One of the most interesting stories that Ronald told concerned the large yellow ladder cemented into the front yard. Inspired by an exhibition of Joan Miro's work, Personage and Birds, John created his own sculpture. Using a ladder that had once belonged to his father, John painted it yellow according to Ron because, "it was leftover paint from some other project." The ladder was concreted into the front yard and topped with stars and crescent moons cut from aluminum beer cans and attached by wires. A plaque with the word "Amen" tops the folk art. And, John called it The Ladder to Success; symbolically, the fourth rung is painted black to represent the difficulty in climbing the ladder where few make it to the top.

The Beer Can House is located at 222 Malone Street, and open for tours on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is $2.00. Visit www.orangeshow.org for more information.