Beer Can House: Quirky Fun

Tucked away on a residential street and surrounded by private homes and condos, Houston’s Beer Can House is as fun as it is curious.  Perhaps the most straightforward piece of art I’ve ever come across, the Beer Can House is exactly what it says it is: a house covered in beer cans.

One of my favorite places to bring visitors to Houston, the Beer Can House began when a retired Southern Pacific Railroad worker named John Milkovisch decided he had tired of mowing his lawn and set about “landscaping” the grounds with marbles, metal, and other odds-and-ends set into concrete.  Once finished he decided his next project would be to cover his home in aluminum beer cans.  John fabricated the cans to fit various needs: some were flattened to cover the outside of the house, like siding, while others were fashioned into decorations that hang from the gutters or serve as decorative “lawn” features.

Open on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 PM, admission to the Beer Can House is a mere $1.00; guided tours are $5.  An on-site gift shop sells Beer Can House memorabilia.  Visitors are allowed to tour the grounds and the inside of the house, where they can view Mr. Milkovisch’s work tools from his days at the railroad and a video of media coverage of the Milkovisches and their project.

The Beer Can House is located at 222 Malone St. (map) and it is operated by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art.