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Phonehenge West: Homeowner Built It Up, Will Likely Have to Tear It Down
Photo by RuggyBearLA via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Alan Kimble Fahey calls his unique Antelope Valley home Phonehenge West. Today he will learn if a judge in a Lancaster court is ordering him to tear his home down. Facing 14 misdemeanor counts, Fahey received a partial verdict in the case yesterday, and was found guilty of violating building codes, according to the L.A. Times.
The Times explains a bit about Fahey and his home:
A retired phone service technician, Fahey spent almost three decades constructing the 20,000-square-foot labyrinth of interconnected buildings, stopping only when Los Angeles County code enforcement officials forced him to in 2008. The creation, which includes a 70-foot tower, is a hodgepodge of reddish buildings — some built of telephone poles — connected by bridges and ramps.
"It's kind of hard to understand what style he's actually going for with the building, [...] so it's not unexpected that [officials] wants it disappeared, and fast," remarks Gizmodo, who (jokingly?) call the structure in their headline "Too beautiful for this world." Prosecutors call it a "fire hazard."
Fahey, who began working on Phonehenge West in the early 1980s, says he tried to get permits, but was stopped up by the convoluted system and the bureaucracy. "[He] ran afoul of county building inspectors almost from Day One," reports the Associated Press, adding:
Fahey said he initially tried to work with building inspectors but that they repeatedly demanded changes, lost his plans at one point and quit contacting him for several years while he continued to build.
Each of the 14 misdemeanor charges carries a possible maximum six-month jail sentence and what Fahey's attorney calls "hefty fines and fees."
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