Photos: Fairbanks 'space needle'

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The "space needle," Fairbanks resident Jim "Curly" Roland's elevated party house, in his yard on September 8, 2015. Roland, a gold miner, built the home in 1997 with a lot of help from his friends.

FAIRBANKS -- On the outskirts of this Interior Alaska city, a strange structure rises above the trees: A blue, 16-sided house perched atop a 75-foot crane.

An idea hatched out of boredom and Budweiser, the clubhouse is Alaska's "tallest, farthest-north Space Needle," according to owner Jim "Curly" Roland, and its history is colored both by wild inventiveness and tragedy.

Roland, 64, first conceived of the building in 1995, as a clubhouse for himself and his friends.

"When I said I was gonna do it, (my friends) went,' he's crazy, he's doing it, guess we'll have to help.' And they did," Roland said.

On an overcast autumn evening in September, Roland invited two of those old friends -- Jeff Fellas and Ronnie Roman -- to ride up to the top, like old times.

It was Roland's first trip up this summer, while Roman hadn't stepped foot in the clubhouse in more than a decade. Fellas grabbed a 12-pack of beer, and Roland held a half-consumed gin and tonic as they boarded the open-air elevator.

Five people fit quite comfortably in the elevator; Roland said they'd tested it with as many as 14.

READ MORE: 75 feet in the air, Fairbanks 'space needle' has colorful, tragic past