The house stands south of Ford, a small community in Stevens County, Washington, on land between state property and the Spokane Indian Reservation. Its brick walls and front elevation follow Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia, though it was built with scavenged materials rather than a contractor’s budget. The builder is Dan Sisson, a historian, author, and longtime Eastern Washington University professor. He calls the house Monticello West. Though largely complete, the house remains a work in progress. The Spokesman-Review and the Los Angeles Times both covered Sisson’s project, and InsideHook later summarized the Times profile. Together, the reports describe a project that would normally take a construction crew, which Sisson took on with help from family, friends, and some hired workers, using mostly salvaged and secondhand materials.
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