Phonehenge West - Tower 5 (unfinished) (5788274692)

Phonehenge West was a large

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

structure envisioned and constructed by Alan Kimble "Kim" Fahey, which included a 70 foot tower made from reclaimed material such as telephone poles, and props from old movie sets. The structure rested on his 1.7 acre property in

Acton, California Acton () is an unincorporated census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, near the Antelope Valley. According to the 2010 census, Acton had a population of 7,596. Acton is a small residential community located between the Sierra ...

. The compound included 13 structures and was a representation of

Construction

The majority of the construction was done by Fahey himself over the course of 30 years. Fahey is a retired phone company technician; much of the building material consisted of discarded telephone poles. Phonehenge West (5788256584)

Destruction

The structure was destroyed by the

county of Los Angeles Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

in August 2011 for

building code A building code (also building control or building regulations) is a set of rules that specify the standards for constructed objects such as buildings and non-building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to obtain planning permission ...

violations. Los Angeles County

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

judge Daviann L. Mitchell ordered Fahey to pay the $83,488 in

demolition Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...

costs, in addition to performing 63 days of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

, of which a minimum of 5 days had to be served at the L.A. County or

Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...

morgue. During the demolition, which took three weeks, four truckloads of material were removed from the property. Fahey requested that the material be saved for reuse but all 53 tons of telephone poles and 280 tons of steel were too badly damaged by the end of the demolition operation. In December 2012, Fahey was sentenced to 539 days in jail for failure to pay. The name Phonehenge West is a parody of

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

, a

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

located in the English county of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

Construction

Destruction

References

See also