News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
A piece -- actually many pieces -- of local history is vanishing from the landscape of Panoramic View Estates east of Sisters.
Steve Frandsen is dismantling the home he and his then-wife Kathy built there more than 20 years ago with materials scrounged from old western mines, local homesteads and former Sisters landmarks.
The Frandsens started construction of the house, which became known as Hanoi Heights, in 1975, using 100-year-old beams salvaged from the Sutro Mine in Nevada, more beams from the old Sisters Rodeo Grounds bleachers and construction material from the Black Butte Ranch construction dump.
Frandsen scrounged for nails from a burnt-out building, pounded them straight and reused them.
According to Frandsen, he spent about $700 on the original house.
"We didn't have any money," he said. "We were just hippies trying to get by."
He later added on, incurring another $2,000 in costs, including stained glass windows made by his friend Tony Lompa.
There wasn't a big cash investment in the house, but there was plenty of labor.
Stairs were constructed of pine with black walnut steps and a landing created from what Frandsen described as a "monster pondo" pine stump.
Interior paneling was scrounged from old homestead barns and pieced together.
Frandsen made siding for the north side of the house with plywood from the Black Butte Ranch construction dump, piecing together a patchwork without making a single saw cut.
The floor of the house was once the floor of the Sisters VFW Hall.
Frandsen is recycling the materials from the house for a new place in Terrebonne and some materials are going to a friend's shop.
He acknowledges that some will see the demise of the house as the welcome end of an eyesore.
Others, he believes, will see it as the loss of a relic from a bygone era of back-to-the-land living and good times at Hanoi Heights.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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