Eighth Grader Ordered to Tear Down Incredible Tree House
Elise Truchan and the two-story treetop penthouse she and her family built as part of a middle school project. (Photo: Kristina Serafini/TribLIVE.com)
It started as an 8th grade project at Quaker Valley Middle School, located outside of Pittsburgh, PA. For her assignment Elise Truchan, 14, decided to build a treehouse.
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In January, with the help of her family, Elise began building the treehouse in the front yard of her Leet Township home. Unlike the typical child’s hangout with old wooden boards nailed to a few tree limbs, Elise’s treehouse could rival the elaborate designs from the Animal Planet show Treehouse Masters.
“It took like a lot of planning to do, and to figure out what should go where, and stuff,” Truchan told KDKA News.
Elise’s treehouse, which she completed in February, has two floors, with an outside rope ladder leading to the lower level entrance and an interior staircase leading to the second floor. She carpeted the floors, put up Harry Potter posters, and brought in a TV, so she and her friends could watch movies when she had a sleepover there one night, Elise told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
By October 1, the front yard treehouse has to be removed, per town officials. (Photo: KDKA)
The treehouse duplex even has a roof window, which lets in sunshine and views of the night sky. It also has a lock, and a battery-powered fan and light. No surprise, she aced the assignment, she told KDKA.
But Elise’s amazing treehouse will be torn down on October 1. That’s the deadline the town set after a neighbor had complained, reported KDKA-TV, though the identity of the neighbor and the nature of the complaint are unknown. However, when town officials looked into the matter, they discovered that treehouses weren’t allowed in front yards.
“At first, I thought it was a joke, but then I found out that it wasn’t,” Elise told KDKA. “So, then I got really sad.”
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“Leet officials originally sent a notice to the family dated March 25 instructing them to remove the structure in 15 days or risk citations filed with the local magistrate,” stated the Tribune-Review. “That was then extended to 30 days, and later, both sides agreed to the Oct. 1 deadline.”
A skylight floods the house with sunshine and lets Elise gaze at the stars at night. (Photo: Kristina Serafini/TribLIVE.com)
The order to tear down the treetop hangout surprised Elise’s parents, who told the Tribune-Review that neighbors watched them build it and were supportive of it. “It’s not like it just occurred,” mom Vicki Truchan told the paper.
Now, Elise has four months left with her homemade chalet. Here’s hoping she enjoys plenty of summer days and nights in the tree.
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