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Case Western Reserve University's independent student news source

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A little teapot in Texas

Strange Architecture

Exploring the world through food and architecture has always been an interest of mine. I hope to find time soon where I can travel the world, sample cuisines from various cultures, see magnificent structures created by man, and dive deep into bizarre sensations. This desire has actually manifested itself into a long document that I constantly update with places I wish to go before I pass away. This document has very few locations within the USA, but one particular location that recently made the list is Galveston, Texas, due to a particular teapot that has garnered my attention there.

In Galveston, near the Gulf of Mexico, a metal building that looks just like a tea-kettle stands proudly on the ground. In its vicinity there are a multitude of buildings all on stilts to protect them from floods, but the kettle sits there without any such protection.
It has been there for over 50 years and has braved a multitude of hurricanes among many other natural disasters. You may be wondering who built it, or who lives in it, but the answers to those questions bear little fruit.

Supposedly, it was built by some mysterious stranger who used to make storage tanks for oil companies. He lived in the area, but no one truly knows why he built it, or what it was built for. Perhaps it was made to store water, or maybe it was made as neat little souvenir that dots the state of Texas? Even neighbors of the plot of land agree that they have seen the man who built it in the past, but no one is sure why he did it or who he exactly was.

Currently, no one resides on the plot of land. It just sits there, revered by many onlookers, and occasionally explored by curious citizens. Yet, perhaps that is the way it should be. Charles Baxter once said, “when all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story.”

No one really knows why the tea-kettle structure exists, and perhaps leaving it be creates a fun sense of mystery. Sometimes in the pursuit of knowledge we forget the beauty of the unknown. When I get chance to visit it, I may take a peek inside, but I’ll leave the historical investigations alone. I’ll be there to enjoy its fantastical appeal.

Join me next time as we continue to explore the weird of our universe. From the vast monuments erected by mankind to the peculiar discovery of scientific phenomena, there is plenty left to discover around us.

Aditya Rengaswamy is a sophomore accounting student at CWRU. He enjoys doing various service projects like Kids Against Hunger, being a part of USG, and hanging out with his brothers in ΘX.

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