KURRE TURNS LOVE OF BUILDINGS INTO MODELS

Alonzo Kurre has built his own town and has given away the buildings.

Easy to do when you consider that the buildings are in half-inch scale.

Kurre, of Friedheim, builds the models based on actual structures in the area. He boxes them out of plywood to scaled dimensions and then creates the siding or brick exteriors to match photos taken of the original.

"It gives me something to do to fill up my spare time," said Kurre. "I've been doing this about a year-and-a-half."

Kurre built a scale replica of the home he grew up in and incorporated some of the house's original wood into the model.

"The beams that hold up the front porch are made out of wood from the home I was raised in," he said. "I thought that would make a nice touch. My daughter keeps it at her house."

He also builds bird houses and tissue holders to look like cabins, buildings and barns.

He has even been commissioned by area residents to build replicas of their homes. His creations are also on display at the local restaurant.

Most recently, Trinity Lutheran Church of Friedheim celebrated its 150th anniversary. Kurre displayed a scale replica of the church at the celebration.

"We took pictures of the windows and plaques and used the photos to make the windows," said Kurre. "It's not easy getting a photo of a window to the exact scale. But I framed up the window and put the picture in to create stained glass windows and then covered them with plexiglass. I also use plexiglass in the doors which open so you can see inside."

Though the inside of the church is unfinished, the outside is an exact replica, from the bricks on the landscaping to the cross on the steeple. He also covered the outside with small bricks painted to the colors of the original stone facade and grouted them.

"They (church members) really enjoyed it," Kurre said. "My daughter keeps it in her front room, but later on it might be given to the church."

When he's not building his models, Kurre travels to area nursing homes with the Daisy Travelers Band.

"The band takes up some of my time," said Kurre, "but I really enjoy it. I don't ever spend a whole day on a building. The church took about a month or so to finish, but doesn't it look good when it's done?"