After the 1993 flood, Ron Lessman decided it was time to build the family a new and safer house.  Ron looked into various designs before deciding to use a Quonset Hut.  Soon a concept was born - the Quonset House.
 

Quonset House, west view (from Truckhenge)

 

No picture can do this place justice!   The Quonset House is huge - 50' wide, by 80' long, by 24' tall - that's 96'000 square feet over 2 floors!.

 The steel "shell" of the house is insulated by a layer of vinyl-covered  foam.  Water tubes built into the concrete floor keep the house comfortable in every season.  Strategically placed cameras keep a vigilant watch over the entire property.

  A covered bridge extends north from the house ending with a spiral stairway.  The bridge was made from the frame of a trailer house.  The spiral stairway was originally from a mansion in Topeka that was demolished - they were just going to throw away a perfectly good spiral stairway!  Now it curves around a concrete drum barrel and leads visitors to our 2nd floor entrance.

  The south wall has a colorful "beer-bottle wall" that greets visitors with a smile.  During the daytime, you can see how bright this smile is from the inside of the house.  At nighttime lights inside the house brighten the smile so you can see it from the outside.

  You can also see a series of large windows at the south end of the house.  The windows were originally from a school in Scranton.  Now eight of them illuminate each end of the house, providing great natural light inside and a terrific view to the outside.

(The 2 pictures to the left were provided by Keith Stokes from KansasTravel.org.  Check out his site for even more excellent pictures!)