Francis Lee Smith spent 25 years building this multi-storey log structure alone in the hills above Cody, adding decks, towers, and platforms without apparent architectural plan beyond his own ongoing enthusiasm. The result is a psychedelic accretion of levels and projections that looks roughly like what would happen if a treehouse was left to evolve unattended for several decades. Smith died in a fall from the building in 1992, leaving it unfinished and the family with a complicated inheritance.
The mansion is visible from the road on the south side of town and is one of those outsider art structures that invites extended looking without ever fully yielding an explanation. It is not open to the public in any regular way, but it can be seen clearly from the highway without trespassing. The story of Smith's single-handed construction — no blueprints, no contractors, no particular reason beyond the fact that he wanted to build it — is as interesting as the building itself.