For many years, the famous tree house in St. Louis Park has been a recognizable landmark for people in the community. Sadly, the city has told treehouse owner Mark Tucker that he his to remove the tree house by the end of the year.

In 1986, Tucker began to build the tree house for his five kids, which sparked an argument with the city over zoning codes and safety regulations. He was first notified about it in 1988, when a Hennepin County judge told Tucker that he could continue to build his treehouse as long as he followed the safety regulations and kept up assessments of the tree’s health, as well as installing safety cages or nets. This battle over the house made national news. 

After finally reaching this agreement, Tucker was able to complete construction on the treehouse. For a while, he even sold life and health insurance from within the treehouse. However, after receiving word from St. Louis Park that he would have to take it down, Tucker finally gave in and began to take the top layers off the tree house in July. The tree house is expected to be completely deconstructed by the end of October. 

Everyone in the neighborhood is sad to see it go, especially BSM students who drive past the tree house on the way to and from school. Sophomore Harriet Cosslett is very sad that the tree house has to come to an end. “I think that it’s sad that they are taking down the tree house because it has become a well-known part of this community. As a person who has a treehouse in my yard, I am a big fan of treehouses and it’s going to be sad to see it go,” Cosslett said.