Log Cabins in the Sky

When people think of log cabins, they often associate them with Pioneering America and in their popular role in the United Kingdom, as a garden building that can be converted into anything a family may need, such as a guest room, an office, or a gym. But there is more to the log cabin than you would expect. In Russia, there is the world’s tallest ‘log cabin’ that used to be home to gangsters and their molls. In Canada, there is the world’s largest ‘log cabin’ that is a luxury hotel and has played host to Prime Ministers, General Governors, Royalty, and actors.
The world’s tallest log cabin is in Arkhangelsk, a town in Russia. It looks like it was designed and built by a bunch of toddlers as it stretches higgledy-piggledy towards the sky, but it was in fact designed and built by a rich Russian gangster called Sutyagin. He started to build his log cabin in 1992 and his intention was to build a two-story log cabin. However, after a visit to Japan and Norway, he decided he needed to utilise the roof space as they had done in their house designs.
So he added another floor, and another floor, and another…..until he had added a total of 13 floors reaching 144ft! His skyscraper log cabin was initially home to his girlfriends, 18 chief executives of his construction company, their various molls, and himself. But times have changed and Sutyagin is virtually penniless after his third prison sentence. Consequently, his folly of a log cabin has fallen into disrepair and only his wife and he live in four rooms on the ground floor of the log cabin.
The world’s largest log cabin is in Montebello, Quebec, Canada. It is called Château Montebello, and it is a magnificent log cabin built in 1930 by an army of 3000 labourers. It was made from 10,000 logs, 500,000 hand-slit cedar roof shakes, and 166 kilometres of wooden moulding. The log cabin was originally a private club and had 186 guest rooms contained in four wings that fanned from a hexagonal rotunda, with two additional wings for the dining room and the ballroom.
The rotunda contained a six-sided fireplace that rose more than 20 meters to the roof! In 1970, Canadian Pacific Hotels bought Château Montebello and converted it from a private club into a luxury resort opened to the public. In 1981, Château Montebello hosted the G7 economic summit meeting and their leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and Pierre Trudeau. Today it is still a wonderful ‘log cabin’ for guests and visitors.
The world’s tallest and widest log cabins are unique wonders, and you could create your own unique and eye-catching log cabin for your garden, although maybe not on such a grand scale! For example, you could have a double level cabin with a circular staircase up to a loft bedroom, an L-shaped log cabin with a covered porch or a hexagonal shaped log cabin surrounded by a veranda. Your log cabin could have garden decking that links the log cabin to your house, and lined with pots filled with country garden flowers that bring a profusion of colour and perfume to the whole area. Outdoor window boxes would allow flowers to bring colour to every corner of your log cabin. Fitted bay windows would create extra space inside your log cabin and help to give it a unique shape and outside window shutters would add character and privacy to your log cabin.