Inside The Tower: Jack Harich's lifelong home project

High on a hill in Morningside, Jack Harich has spent nearly 50 years quietly and carefully building — mostly by himself, sometimes with friends — The Tower, the house of his dreams.

• A mix of Swiss chalet and medieval castle with a pinch of Tim Burton fairy tale, the more than 2,000-square-foot home has been a "design-as-you-go, pay-as-you-go" labor of love for Harich and his wife, Martha.

Details: Harich, a sustainability researcher who's also worked as a furniture maker and software engineer, bought the one-third acre lot in 1973 and started construction in 1975 with a round stone tower.

• He worked outward, creating the lower floor surrounded by walls made from 95 tons of Cherokee marble. Then came a grand hall on the upper level with arched ceilings and flooded with light from windows.

The cedar siding is used on seaside houses in New England and is rot resistant, Harich says.

• All the flashing and many of the eaves are copper sheet and have turned green, brown and slightly purple over time.

The big picture: Harich, who these days spends most of his time working and spending the night in The Tower, set out to create a home that was "perpetually inspiring to live in."