Rhyolite Nevada

Tom Kelly Bottle House

The famous bottle house was completed in 1906 on Amargosa Street by Tom Kelly, a local saloon keeper. The bottle house was made of empty beer and liquor bottles, which Mr. Kelly collected from the back yards of local saloons. The bottles were laid on their sides and embedded with adobe mud mortar.

Paramount Pictures restored the building in 1925, for the filming of "Wanderer of the Wasteland." After the filming, the bottle house was given to the Beatty Improvement Association for maintenance as a historical relic. It was maintained as a museum until 1956. Today it is owned and maintained by the Bureau of Land Management. In 2005 the building was stabilized by the Bureau of Land Management. Broken bottles, trim on the corners, and the porch flooring and railing were replaced.

There were additional bottle houses in Rhyolite. One being mostly underground in the area of the two story school house.

Today the bottle house sets behind a fence with a locked gate. When the care taker is available the gate is unlocked and you may enter the grounds. Admittance inside the house is not permitted.

For additional photos see the Tom Kelly Bottle House Photo Album.