Paper has a huge number of uses, but to build a house - and furnish it - that is still standing after 80 years is amazing.

Begun in 1992 as a summer house in Rockport, Massachusetts, Mr. Elis F. Stenman, a mechanical engineer who designed the machines that make paper clips, went on to build furniture and wall coverings after the walls were done. Mr. Stenman lived there during the summer until 1930.

The framework to the house is wood and it has a wooden floor and roof. The wall material, which was supposed to be insulation, is pressed paper about an inch thick. Made of layers of newspaper and glue and varnished on the outside, it’s practically waterproof.

The furniture is made out of rolls of paper about 1/2 inch in diameter, cut to different sizes and nailed or glued together.

Visit the Paper House in Rockport MA sometime and enjoy a bit of American ingenuity!