The House on the Rock is the ultimate tourist attraction — part museum, part haunted house, part carnival. Inside, you’ll find bizarre collections and displays: a glass hall stretching endlessly over the forest, a massive whale locked in battle with a Kraken, the world’s largest carousel, and self-playing instruments. I’d wanted to visit for years and finally made the trip, spending almost four hours wandering through! I know I say this a lot, but the House on the Rock is a top tier, one-of-a-kind unforgettable experience!
Plan Your Visit
Location: 5754 State Road 23, Spring Green, WI 53588
Hours: Open daily from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (hours may vary by season)
Cost: $35 for adults, $20 for children (prices subject to change). When I visited, we were able to buy tokens at the ticket counter, and there were also token exchange machines throughout the complex.
A Brief (and Bizarre) History
Alex Jordan Jr. designed and built the House on the Rock, originally envisioning a Japanese-style house perched atop Deer Shelter Rock. Construction began in 1945, but Jordan kept adding on, filling each new space with elaborate collections.
Biographers say Jordan was determined to outdo architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and while this story doesn’t hold up against their actual timelines, it’s fun to believe. Wright earned praise for tasteful, nature-integrated designs, but as someone who loves weird maximalism, I’d say Jordan definitely outdid him!
In 1988, Jordan sold the house to a friend, who continued expanding and curating the site. Today, it still delights and a half a million visitors annually.
Highlights of the House on the Rock
The House on the Rock is both impressive and kitschy, blending real and replica antiques. My advice is don’t question the authenticity; just suspend disbelief and enjoy the spectacle.
The Original House, the Gate House, & the Galleries
These areas showcase the earliest parts of the house, featuring an abundance of stained glass, warm lighting, and giant fireplaces. There are suits of armor and a self-playing piano you can hit up with a token.
The Infinity Room
This mind-bending hallway juts 218 feet out from the main house, narrowing to a single point. With over 3,000 windows, it creates of the illusion of floating above the treetops. Looking down at the glass floor panel definitely made my stomach jump!
The Streets of Yesterday
You can literally step into a replica early 19th-century American town, complete with red brick streets, glowing street lamps and charming storefronts. It’s somewhere between a play town and an eerie ghost town (we didn’t run into a single other person here).
The World’s Largest Indoor Carousel
The house highlight (for me, and I’m sure many others) has to be the world’s largest indoor carousel. It has over 20,000 lights, 269 hand-carved animals, and not a single horse. The 36-ton beauty spins to classical carnival music, with angels suspended in mid-flight overhead.
The Automated Music Machines
Throughout the house, you’ll find mechanical orchestras and self-playing instruments, some of which seem like they could start playing on their own at any moment (and often do!). The sheer size of some of these contraptions is mind-blowing — like the 80-foot-long Mikado music machine, which simulates a full symphony performance.
The Doll Carousel Room
Yes, there is a multi-tiered carousel entirely populated with handcrafted dolls and naked lady mannequins. It’s like a really creepy and beautiful wedding cake!
Heritage of the Sea
The scene holds a 200-foot whale (as long as the Statue of Liberty is tall) battling a Kraken amidst 100s of model ship displays.
The Doll House Room
One of the largest miniature dollhouse collections in the world, feating everything from Colonial-style homes to Victorian mansions. I think it speaks to how absolutely overwhelmed I was because I looove miniatures and hardly took any photos by the time I got to this part.
There are so many more collections!
After years of wanting to visit, the House on the Rock completely lived up to the hype. My boyfriend went in with low expectations and was also blown away! It’s the kind of weird and wonderful place that defines a great American road trip and fuels my love of travel!
What’s Nearby?
These stops aren’t right next door, but they made great additions to my Wisconsin road trip:
- FAST Fiberglass Mold Graveyard: Walk through discarded molds from FAST Corporation, the company behind many of America’s giant roadside fiberglass statues. Here, you’ll find the molds for giant ice cream cones, oversized animals, and other larger-than-life creations slowly weathering away.
- Madison, Wisconsin: I wish I could’ve spent more time in beautiful Madison, but I can recommend the troll sculptures around Mount Horeb and the National Mustard Museum which boasts thousands of mustards from around the world (also a soft pretzel with the mustard of your choice!
- Grandview: Nick Engelbert’s Grandview is a sculpture garden full of people, monkeys, and mythical creatures. Engelbert and his wife passed away and the property is now maintained by the Kohler Foundation.