Gold Pyramid House Damaged By Fire In Wadsworth

WADSWORTH, IL — Several firefighters suffered minor injuries and a family pet perished as the iconic Gold Pyramid House in Wadworth burned for several hours Tuesday afternoon. Area fire crews had to cross a moat and navigate the unique interior design of the iconic Lake County attraction to extinguish the blaze, which burned much of the home's north side.

The Gurnee Fire Department got a call of an elderly man in a wheelchair and a dog trapped in the house around 4 p.m. in the 37900 block of North Dillleys Road, WLS-TV reported. By the time crews arrived, the man had been rescued from the house, and firefighters went in looking for the dog.

Extremely heavy smoke in the upper floors of the 17,000-square foot, six-story home caused several firefighting companies to become lost in the house, WLS reported. Two to three firefighters sustained very minor injuries and were treated at a hospital, Gurnee fire officials said, and the dog died in the fire.

Battalion Chief David Douglass told reporters the building's design included large amount of void spaces in the wall, which allowed the fire to spread and made the blaze harder to fight. He said it was the first time his department has extinguished a fire in a pyramid.

A spokesman for the Lake County Sheriff's Office told the Lake County News-Sun the fire did not appear to be suspicious. A resident told reporters work was being done on the home at the time the fire started, according to the Daily Herald. The extent of the damage to the interior of the home was not immediately known. WMAQ-TV reported crews were remodeling the exterior of the structure when the fire began, and it was not known if the building would be salvageable.

The 55-foot-tall pyramid was completed in 1982 by Jim Onan on 10 acres of land he purchased in Wadsworth. Onan, an autodidact builder who, along with his brothers, grew with a successful garage building, roofing and concrete business in Waukegan.

Onan also built a 55-foot pharonic statue on the property (who had to buried up to his knees to avoid height restrictions) and the iconic "Onan Man with Garage" statue at the 50-year-old family business.

The Golden Pyramid in Wadworth, built at one-ninth the scale of the Great Pyramid of Giza beside a three-car pyramid-shaped garage, was originally covered with 8,000 plates of 24-karat gold at a cost of $1 million, according to an episode for the Travel Channel. It was described as the tallest gold-plated structure in North America.

"I told [Jim] I wanted to build a normal house," Linda Onan told the Daily Herald in 2006. "I didn't get my wish."

Lake County's retired director of building told the Travel Channel there were some legal and permitting issues involved with the home, especially after Onan sought permission to operate a museum out of what had been approved as a single-family home.

"I think he added a couple floors after I approved the permit," Robert Steicher said. "Because I don't recall approving five stories. But that would have been Jim Onan. Jim always did things first and asked questions later."

Eventually complaints from neighbors about sunlight reflecting from the home led Onan to cover the entire structure in a giant dome and closed the building to the public.

Tuesday's blaze was not the first time disaster has struck the structure.

A 1997 tornado struck the home, knocked over the dome and sent large steel beams through the side of the house, causing "significant structural damage," according to the television program.

Thomas "Rocko" Onan, the son of the home's builder, told a television crew he spent two years removing the gold plating before the home was repainted. The gold had been difficult to maintain, he said.

In 2009, the first floor of the building was reopened to the public to raise money for the treatment of military veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries, the Lake County News-Sun reported. The Lake County tourist attraction has also been rented out for large events and hosted major charity events.

More recently, the News-Sun reported thousands of people attended a September 2016 Stand Up for Veterans benefit to support North Chicago-based Midwest Veterans Closet.

The Gold Pyramid home's website explains more the origin of the structure, which also includes an underground replica of King Tutankhamun tomb, the Onan's collection of Egyptian artifacts and a gift shop.

A few words say it all: Power, Gold and Mystery. When all those words were put together by Jim & Linda Onan, they ended up creating one of the most amazing works of art ever seen. Why? It all started when American Universities claimed that there were mysterious, supernatural and magical powers that were related to the pyramids. Intrigued by the mystery, the Onan’s built their home to channel the magical energy.

More about the history of the Gold Pyramid of Wadsworth from the Travel Channel: