The Tower House began not as a monument, but as a home. John Kahn first imagined a simple cabin in the woods — a quiet retreat for himself and his family, shaped by the land, the spring-fed pond, and the challenge of building in the round. What emerged over time became far more ambitious: a true-radius structure, neither faceted nor conventional, shaped by curiosity, experimentation, and hands-on problem-solving.

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John is not a trained architect or conventional builder, but a self-taught artist and maker who learned through doing: testing ideas, adapting to materials, learning from mistakes, and discovering what each structure would allow. Because The Tower House did not follow a standard architectural model, he approached its construction with extraordinary care. Where another builder might have simplified, John often did the opposite — overbuilding for strength, testing solutions in real time, and allowing each discovery to inform the next.

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Decades later, The Tower House remains a living work in progress. It is still a home, and it continues to evolve under John’s care, with each addition, adjustment, and detail reflecting the same spirit that began the project: an artist-builder responding to materials, geometry, landscape, and the lessons that come from making by hand.