VANDALIA — One of Owen County's more unusual landmarks has been reduced to ashes.

The five-story, 70-foot-tall Barn House, on County Road 850 West just off Ind. 46, burned to the ground Sunday night.

The unique house — with its 41 rooms, 15 stairways and ladders, hidden passageways, different roof angles and twin towers on either end — drew plenty of visitors since owner James Pendleton first began building it in the early 1970s.

It was also a local partying spot, and neighbors reported drunken visitors often woke them with loud music and shouting.

The fire apparently began late Sunday night, Patricksburg fire Chief Chris Lunsford said.

He said his department was called out about 10:30 p.m. and arrived to find the structure had already collapsed.

"When I left Spencer, I could see the orange glow from there," Lunsford said. "That building was built just like a chimney, and the fire just fed itself. It was pretty well gone when we got there."

The structure was surrounded with junked vehicles and abandoned mobile homes, which made it difficult to get pumper trucks close to the blaze, he said.

At least five local departments responded to the scene, and Lunsford estimated 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of water was needed to extinguish the fire.

The fire's cause has not been determined, and the state fire marshal's office most likely won't be called out, Lunsford said.

"At this time, it's undetermined in nature," he said. "And as advanced as the fire was, there's not much left to look at."

Neighbor John Kean, who has lived next door to the Barn House for more than 30 years, said he watched the flames from his yard Sunday night.

He credits a heavy rain earlier that day with wetting the grass enough so the fire didn't spread to his mobile home, and said the wind helped blow the burning debris away from his home.

"The wind was out of the northwest when the fire started, but I started praying and it came out of the southwest," he said. "But you could feel that heat."

Kean, who said he helped Pendleton build the structure, said he'll miss the odd house but won't miss some of the visitors who disturbed his family.

"People were always up there taking pictures, breaking stuff, stealing stuff," he said. "They'd climb up in the crow's nest and yell stuff at you while you were mowing the lawn."

Neighbor Marilyn Hill said she couldn't sleep and was playing a computer game when she spotted the flames.

She called the fire department and then watched from her deck as firefighters battled the blaze.

"I'm glad to see it go," Hill said. "He used to keep it real nice, but then when the dump started charging, he just kept bringing everything back here."

The lot was partially obscured by junked trucks, boats and mobile homes. Two claw-footed bathtubs lay near a pile of old barn wood, and an old stop sign was incongruously posted on a telephone pole.

Further into the site, a twisted ramp led to nowhere over the burned structure. Nearby, the charred remains of a block wall still stood.

Pendleton and his family hadn't lived in the Barn House for several years, Lunsford said. Pendleton couldn't be reached for comment.

Neighbor Beatrice Martin said she'd been inside the home once.