The Log House of Nikolay Sutyagin is believed to be the world’s tallest wooden house. Looks like Japanese pagoda, it is also called as “wooden skyscraper”, or “Solombala skyscraper”). The house had 13 floors with a height of about 144 feet. The Log house was located at the outskirts of the city of Archangel, by the Dvina River in northern Russia. The city of Archangel is home to Arctic fishermen, lumberjacks. The Sutyagin House has once been recognised a sensation of the year at a conference on Wooden House Construction in Northern Russian Towns. it was the only structure that could clearly be seen from the opposite bank of the Northern Dvina River.Nikolai Petrovich Sutyagin was the owner of the house, who was the Russian businessman Nikolay made his wealth by lumber business also known as Russian Crime lord. When Sutyagin started building his house he had an intention of building a two-story house. Inspired by the vernacular architecture and wooden houses of Japan and Norway, Later he realized he didn’t use the roof space properly and decided to add more floors. First he added 3 floors but wasn’t happy with the look of his house since it looked like mushroom, then he added one more floor and kept going.
He used his vast lumber reserves to build add-ons to the home that kept climbing toward the sky. It took him and his family 15 year to built the house. He wanted the house larger than his neighbours so that it can show his position as a richest man of the city. The house was able to accommodate the 18 executives of his construction company He even built a 5 story bath house in his garden. But his dream could short lived as he was sentenced to 4 years of jail in 1998. He claims that during his prison his rivals stole his money and destroyed his equipment. Then his neighbours started complaining about the monstrosity of his house while city authorities pointed out to him that no wooden structure should be higher than two floors.
However, in 2008 the court declared the building to be illegal, since construction
of a wooden house over two storeys high must be approved by the authorities. The House was fully demolished by February 1, 2009 as per the court orders, condemned by the city as Fire hazard, could cause the entire suburb into flames. These structures were finally destroyed in a fire in 2012. The Russian gangster dubbed his dream house as “the eighth wonder of the world.”