In 1968, a retired Texas railway worker began covering his home with flattened beer cans; 18 years and more than 50,000 cans later, almost nothing had gone to waste

A retired Southern Pacific Railroad upholsterer named John Milkovisch began covering his Houston home with flattened beer cans in 1968, and by the time he stopped nearly two decades later, he had used more than 50,000 cans to transform an ordinary bungalow into one of America's best-known pieces of folk art. Milkovisch started small, embedding marbles, buttons and pieces of metal into concrete around his yard simply because he was tired of mowing the lawn. What began as a way to avoid yard work eventually grew into a full-scale renovation of the house, using almost every part of each can he emptied. Today, the property is known as the Beer Can House. It stands at 222 Malone Street in Houston’s Rice Military neighborhood and continues to draw visitors from across the country.

Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!