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Built by
Elis Stemnan, the mechanical engineer who invented
the machine
that
makes paper clips, the Paper House of Rockport is one of the most
fascinating tourist
attractions
in
Massachusetts.
The Paper
House was built in 1922, with a common wooden structure. But like all
amateur inventors, Mr. Stemnan was curious, so he decided to use his new
house to find out if paper offered good enough insulation. He covered an
entire wall with layers upon layers of
rolled newspapers
, held together by his very own glue, made from water,
flour and apple peals. One thing led to another, and Elis Steman ended up
wrapping the whole house in rolled newspapers. The interior of the house
is also completely made of paper, including the furniture,
window curtains
and
decorations. The piano alone is real and wrapped entirely in
newspapers.
With the
help of neighbors who supported him in his efforts, and always brought him
their
newspapers
, Elis Stemnan managed to cover his house in around 100,000
rolled newspapers. He coated it all in varnish to protect it from
weathering away. On the outside, where the varnish wore off, visitors can
spend hours reading headlines and snippets from articles almost a century
old.
One question no
one has ever been able to answer is why Elis Stemnan went through all the
trouble to create the paper House. Most
people say
he did it to be thrifty, and
because newspapers were abundant and cheap, back then.
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