The Paper House: Recycling at Its Best

Elias F.  Stenman, a mechanical engineer who designed the machines that made paper clips, decided to make a house out of paper. He thought the paper would be good insulation.

Elias began building his house in Rockport, Massachusetts in 1922.  He started out with a wood framework, of course, and used wood for the roof and floor.  But everything else, including the furniture is paper!

Elias used rolled newspaper, heavily varnished, to cover the walls, make all the furniture (except for the piano, which is merely COVERED in paper), and even decorate!

For more than twenty years, Elias and his family constructed the Paper House, using more than 100,000 newspapers to create their two-room home.  The walls are made of 215 layers of newspaper.  Most of the exterior layer type is completely readable, and Paper House visitors can spend hours browsing through classic newspaper headlines.

The writing desk is made of newspapers detailing Charles Lindberg’s famous transatlantic air flight and the grandfather clock includes mastheads from the newspapers of each of the 48 states (made before Hawaii and Alaska joined the US).

Stenman’s family runs the Paper House now and you can visit!

GETTING THERE:  On entering Rockport, Massachusetts, follow 127 to Pigeon Cove.  After the Yankee Clipper Inn take the second left (Curtis Street) then another left on Pigeon Hill Street to No.52 (on your right).

To learn more about the Paper House, go here:

http://www.paperhouserockport.com/

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