Going out on a Limb
The Courier-Journal's Welcome Home Kentuckiana
June 2004
By Christopher Martin
This custom structure, called Canyon Perch, is built in a ravine on top of a 9ft. high tree stump. Early sketches show how the space will soon look. Before construction, this same area shows the beginnings of a child’s dreamland.
Although there’s no anthropological evidence to suggest that we homo-sapiens were once tree dwellers, Barbara Butler believes there is something inherently “primal” about the allure of a tree house. “It’s basic shelter. You can get up high, pull the ladder up, spend the night and touch in with early man by hanging out up there.”
And what child who has seen the Walt Disney film Swiss Family Robinson hasn’t envied that incredible tree house with all its gizmos and contraptions? What kid hasn’t then gone on to badger dad until he finally relents to tackle the construction of one in that big maple out on the back lawn?
Well, Barbara Butler of Barbara Butler Artist-Builder Inc. in
South San Francisco, California knows what it’s like for kids and adults alike to have aspirations for things higher up.
Barbara has designed and built 16 tree houses, tree forts, and tree perches since 1996 in California, Cleveland, New Jersey, Connecticut, and
North Carolina. There’s even one in
South Bend, Indiana. (She also builds equally elaborate play structures and has built them for a handful of
Hollywood notables.) Her work has also appeared in Architectural Digest.
Barbara’s tree houses have an aesthetic and visual appeal all their own too. Far from the haphazard, box-like structures pieced together from scrap lumber that normally passes as tree houses, her custom tree houses are unique, individual works of art. Moreover, they appeal equally to adults and children alike. Once finished, her tree houses feature such amenities as “rock” walls for climbing, rope climb-ups, pulley systems, and zip lines. A zip line – a personal favorite of Barbara’s – is essentially a cable ride between two trees and is fun (and safe) for both parents and kids.
In fact, that’s a big reason why Barbara does what she does. Her little tree houses bring families together for play.
Take her own family, for instance. Barbara’s husband, sister, two brothers, and a few nephews work on her crew of 15. You can bet the work is fun, but designing, engineering and constructing one of these tree houses is hard work, indeed.
First, of course, you must find the right tree. “A lot depends on the tree,” Barbara emphasizes. She looks for older, single trunk trees and then has the tree checked thoroughly by an arborist to determine if the tree can support the weight and stress of a tree house and its future occupants. Barbara adds she also likes the challenge of working on difficult sites and terrain.
Next, she photographs the tree from various angles (including from above) which helps her begin to envision the layout of the house. Then she begins to make sketches of her ideas.
Once she’s arrived at a “blueprint” that meets with her and her clients’ approval, it’s time to build.
The next step is that the house is “ sticked out.” This procedure demands that Barbara and members of her crew climb up into the tree to place sticks at various platform levels. Again, this allows her to find additional spaces and to map out the design.
The various colors of the house are predetermined so that the majority of the lumber arrives on site pre-cut and stained. The lumber has undergone a “grinding” process too. That is all wood components have been meticulously sanded to a “buttery” smoothness and that there are no sharp edges.
At this stage in construction “there’s a lot of up and down in the tree,” says Barbara. “It’s a really fun process.”
Once the tree house is complete, (the many steps have been abbreviated here because of space) it has a very homemade look to it that Barbara and her crew strive for. But this one-of-a-kind quality does not come without a price. Barbara’s tree houses start at about $15,000 and go up to $35,000 and more.
But, it could be argued such a small price to pay indeed for such a timeless legacy of fun for the family.
For Media & Publicity Inquiries, or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Jeanette Brown
Sarah Hall Productions, Inc.
670 Broadway - Suite 504
New York, NY 10012
Email: jeanette@shpny.com
Phone:(212) 529-1598
Fax:(212) 529-3171
