Mr. Elis F. Stenman, a mechanical engineer who designed the machines that make paper clips, began building his Rockport summer home out of paper as a hobby. That was in 1922 The paper was meant to be good insulation. Elis Stemnan started out making a house for the summer.

The framework to the house is wood-just like any other house-it has a regular wood-en floor and wooden roof. The wall material, which was supposed to be insulation really, is pressed paper about an inch thick. It’s just layers and layers of newspaper, glue, and varnish on the outside that keeps it pretty water-proof actually. This was done in 1924 and he lived here in the summertime up until 1930.

After the wall material was made, and he was living in it, he made the furniture. The furniture is made out of little paper logs. The little rolls of paper are maybe a half inch thick and they’re all cut to different sizes-cut with a knife. Then they’re glued together or nailed together. The furniture is usable-it’s quite heavy. Basically the furniture is all paper except for the piano which he covered.

The fireplace actually is usable because it’s really a brick fireplace.