Located in the city of Chelyabinsk, in Russia, is a unique house built almost entirely of champagne bottles. The architectural oddity is the handiwork of a local resident, 52-year-old Hamidullah Ilchibaev. Fondly referred to as ‘Palace Oz’, the place is now a popular landmark in the region.
The idea for the house was not a random one – Hamidullah has always been interested in constructing things out of beer and vodka bottles. His children had always admired his work, and encouraged him to build a house someday. But he always thought it was impossible to do.
When Hamidullah lost his second son, who tragically passed away at age 18, he decided to finally build the house in the boy’s memory. So he started the search for suitable materials. To construct the eccentric 99-square meter house, Hamidullah collected over 12,000 empty champagne bottles over the course of three years. Some he purchased at a ruble apiece, and others were donated by nearby restaurants.
“When I started to build, I hadn’t even imagined that there are so many different kinds of bottles of champagne,” he said. He discovered that the bottles not only varied in color, but also quality. The bottles he finally collected were of different shapes and sizes, so he used a special glass cutter to cut the tops off to the same size. Hamidullah is now so well-versed with bottles that he’s become an expert of sorts – he can identify the diameter of any bottle correctly, down to the millimeter!
He made use of these bottles as one would bricks, stacking them up around a solid foundation. Between the insulation and the neck of the bottle, he left a gap of the thickness of a finger, into which he poured a solution that when solidified firmly holds the bottles in place, and keeps the house warm as well. From the outside, you can see the bottoms – they give the walls a unique green texture and finish. From the inside, though, it pretty much looks like a regular house – you can’t tell that the walls are made of bottles.
Hamidullah gave away his architectural masterpiece to his eldest son, as a wedding present. His daughter-in-law is quite proud of the house, and says she cannot wait to furnish it!
