Houston is full of surprises, and few are as joyful as the Beer Can House, a modest home in the Rice Military neighborhood that glitters in the Texas sun. What looks at first like silver siding is, up close, an extraordinary work of folk art: flattened aluminum cans, bottle caps, bottles and garlands of cans that tinkle softly in the breeze.
Houstonian John Milkovisch began the transformation in 1968. Tired of mowing the grass, he first covered his yard with concrete inlaid with marbles, rocks and metal pieces, then turned to the house itself. Over the years he covered it with an estimated 50,000 recycled cans, creating patios, fences and flower boxes along the way. Asked why, he cheerfully explained that he liked to drink beer, but he did not like to throw anything away — so imagination and recycling did the rest.
Today the house is owned and cared for by the nonprofit Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, which preserves it as one of Houston’s most recognizable folk-art landmarks. Inside, visitors find a surprisingly homey interior, photographs and stories of Milkovisch at work, and details that reward a slow look.
The Beer Can House, at 222 Malone Street, is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and admission is always free. The tour is family-friendly and partly outdoors, so bring a hat on sunny days — and a camera for Houston’s happiest shine.
Photo: Andrew Wiseman, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
