The House on the Rock Is Even Crazier Than You Think

Ever since I moved to Madison over a quarter-century ago, I heard legends and lore about The House on the Rock out in Iowa County near Spring Green. I heard that it was huge, eccentric, and that it was fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. I heard that I would not be able to get the sound of circus music out of my head for days afterwards.

While the City Cast Madison team went to The House of the Rock back in 2023, last week it was my turn to go for the first time. This is my best effort to describe what I saw there. It’s hilarious, it’s disturbing, it’s unforgettable. But the one thing that everybody told me is true. You have to see it to believe it.

What and Where Is The House on the Rock?

House on the Rock is a sprawling estate built on Deer Shelter Rock, located about an hour west of Madison on Highway 23. Basically, head to American Players Theatre, but then keep going on Highway 23 another six miles until you see the giant flowerpots flanking the entrance.

The breathtaking natural beauty of the location is balanced by the sheer eccentricity of what’s inside the house, which is dozens of rooms and passages crammed with all kinds of oddities.

Who Built This Place?

Alex Jordan was a Madison man who developed a fascination with both construction and electronic gadgets. On a family trip to Deer Shelter Rock as a child, he imagined building his dream house on the site. He started building House on the Rock in the 1940s, and reportedly started charging curious onlookers 50 cents to visit, thinking it would drive them away. Instead, House on the Rock grew to become one of Wisconsin’s strangest and most popular tourist attractions.

What’s There To See?

You could spend a week at The House on the Rock and not see every little wind-up gimcrack, antique doll, or other curiosity. But here’s a few of the highlights you can’t miss. Buckle up, it’s about to get weird:

Infinity Room

This architectural marvel is a narrow, disorienting glass-covered room that extends over 200 feet out over the valley. We weren’t allowed to head out all the way to the very tip, but given that the room moves up and down about six inches, that was more than enough.

The Carousel

This massive merry-go-round features 269 animals (including disturbing animal-human hybrids) whizzing around underneath 10,000 lights and 182 chandeliers as circus music plays loudly. There’s also a pair of “doll carousels” in another room that are even more unsettling.

Heritage of the Sea

The walls of this three-story structure are covered in nautical oddities, maritime maps and over 200 model ships. But the centerpiece is a massive and terrifying sculpture of a sharp-toothed leviathan locked in mortal combat with an octopus.

Streets of Yesterday

This eerie recreation of a 19th-century main street is full of little shops and curios. There are lots of little coin-operated mechanical dioramas sprinkled throughout, like the “Dying Drunkard” that features a man on his deathbed being besieged by his demons. Fun for the whole family!

Mechanical Music Machines

Throughout the House on the Rock, but especially in Section 2, are coin-operated mechanical music machines that feature entire automated bands playing Ravel’s “Bolero,” “When The Saints Go Marching In,” and more. Some of them are big enough to take up an entire room, with dozens of instruments all calibrated to play together.

“Section 3”

Descend downstairs through a “mouth of hell” into this phantasmagorical warehouse of Jordan’s collection, as ramps and walkways wind through the gears of a clock tower, a mannequin orchestra (currently undergoing repairs), three humongous theater organs, and so much more. Hanging in the center is a massive scarlet chandelier that a volunteer told us Jordan had planned to put his office inside.

If nothing else, The House on the Rock will make you feel better about the clutter in your basement.