Novato rotating house and wind turbine for kids
The House That Spins Around. The true story of Novato rotating house and wind turbine, near Novato, CA, told for kids.
Read along
Do you think a house can spin? In Novato, one can! A builder named Sam Harkleroad made a round house that turns on a platform. It can rotate most of the way around, like a slow merry-go-round you live inside! You could eat breakfast looking at the hills, and then turn the house to look at something else.
Sam liked building unusual things from recycled materials. He built a second house with a roof shaped like a giant taco! People also call it the potato chip house. He even put a wind turbine on a workshop roof. Now look out the window.
Can you find a roof that looks like a taco? Or a house that looks different from all the others? Give it a silly name!
Quiz the back seat
What shape is the roof of Sam's other house?
Show the answer
A taco. A taco! People also call it the potato chip house.
3 fun facts
- Sam Harkleroad built the rotating house around 1960.
- The rotating house can turn 320 degrees.
- Both houses still stand and are used today.
For grown-ups
Every Tumbly story is checked claim by claim against the sources below before it's published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novato_rotating_house_and_wind_turbine
- facebook.com/FOX5NY/videos/novato-rotating-house/1850060075961650
- eichlernetwork.com/article/what-rotates-320-degrees
- facebook.com/WSJ/posts/a-circular-house-overlooking-highway-101-in-novato-calif-is-on-the-market-for-th/1427218715931388
- facebook.com/openhomesphotography/posts/if-youve-driven-on-101-through-novato-this-home-which-perches-on-the-hillside-an/1536567985164251
- aroundus.com/p/5509423-harkleroad-wind-turbine
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