Forever Young Treehouses promotes the construction of universally accessible treehouses across the country. While accessible treehouses provide a memorable experience for everyone, we focus on treehouse construction for children and young adults with special needs who are routinely confronted with barriers to fun and play in their daily lives. An accessible treehouse removes these obstacles, bringing people of all abilities together and closer to nature.

In April 2007, a wheelchair-accessible project called Everybody’s Treehouse opened in Mount Airy Forest. Partnerships between the Cincinnati Parks Board, Home Depot, The Cincinnati Rotary, The Marvin Lewis Foundation as well as Drees Construction and the Cincinnati Homebuilder’s Association made the house possible. Not only is the treehouse ADA-compliant, it is very unique and very, very cool.

See previous coverage of the Spaceship House.

If you have ever arrived later than the rest of the bar crowd that hits Mount Adams, you might have been forced to park on Hill Street. And when you are walking up that steep hill, you might have come across a strange elevator that looks like it came from the circus. The funny thing is, it’s attached to a three-story apartment complex.

When Neil Bortz was on a trip out West in San Francisco, in 1961, he came across a phone booth that looked out of the ordinary – it was a phone booth on tracks that went up a steep hill, much like a tram. Intrigued, he called the company that built these unique phone booths and was told they were called “Hillavators.”

Immediately, Neil knew Mount Adams needed one of these inventions, since it has that San Francisco feel to it anyway. Plus, his apartment in Mount Adams was up a few stories, and he didn’t want his wife – who was seven months pregnant – to carry groceries that far. The Hillavator was installed in 1962.

Hey there’s a unit for rent!

(Note the Immaculata spire in the background. Cool.)

Bonus! Up the hill from the Hillavator, there is this weird house.

It’s dedicated exclusively to these houses, and includes a news report video that Channel 12 once did on our Covington, KY, spaceship. There’s also a global tracking list of these houses (scroll down to Kentucky for a mention of MakeCincinnatiWeird.com).

Of course, this house is not as Candyland as the Mushroom House is a Mushroom – in fact, this house isn’t really that flamboyant at all. But it still reminds me of a big cake.

2214 Upland Place

via 5chw4r7z