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All Canada British Columbia Sanca Boswell Embalming Bottle House

Boswell Embalming Bottle House

This house was largely built out of hundreds of thousands of discarded glass embalming fluid bottles.

Sanca, British Columbia

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Matt Bergstrom
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The bottles themselves were used as masonry in constructing the Boswell Glass Bottle House   The World is Round
  Cheryl Young
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One of the towers built, overlooking Kootenay Lake   andrewmors / Atlas Obscura User
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There's no denying the appeal of owning a picturesque house overlooking Kootenay Lake – even if that house is built from 500,000 empty embalming fluid bottles. In fact, some people would undoubtedly find it would "indulge a whim of a particular nature." 

At least, that was the explanation given by the man who built the morbid abode. The house was built in 1952 by David H. Brown, who after retiring from the funeral business decided to use his now-useless collection of embalming bottles for something practical, or at least creative. While he didn't have enough bottles of his own to build an entire house, he had plenty of friends in the business willing to lend him a hand, and hand over their bottles. The final tally of bottles used came to 500,000. 

The house itself is a cozy cottage, with round rooms arranged in cloverleaf fashion. Lush gardens surround the house, with terraces, bridges, and pavilions also made from glass bottles. The square bottles are arranged like glass bricks, mortared and cemented on the inside, with the glass ends on the outer walls of the house. 

The house is open for tours in the summer, seven days a week.

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Bottle Art Bottle Houses Memento Mori Architectural Oddities Eccentric Homes Architecture Homes

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3-4 km south of Boswell on Hwy 3A.

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MattB

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Blindcolour, kostas1964ath, andrewmors

  • Blindcolour
  • kostas1964ath
  • andrewmors

Published

January 24, 2013

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Sources
  • http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1519
  • http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/3bd31/de63e/
  • http://www.selkirkloop.org/index.php/travel/cities/british-columbia/boswell/the-glass-house.html
Boswell Embalming Bottle House
11350 BC-3A
Sanca, British Columbia, V0B 1A2
Canada
49.404991, -116.741549
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