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It never made the pages of Architectural Digest, but the house that once graced a prominent spot along Farmers Loop occupies an important spot in the twisted history of building on permafrost.

Built on a site above ice-rich soil in 1975, the house was a modern 3,500-square-foot suburban home with a fully heated basement and a garage. It changed hands several times, and while it was once assessed for more than $100,000, that number began to sink as the building went to pieces.

“Made adjustment for permafrost conditions,” an assessor wrote in 1979. “I doubt the work currently planned will solve the problem.”

By the early 1980s, the building became a Fairbanks landmark, with more angles than a geometry book.

The floors and walls buckled as heat from the basement penetrated the earth and melted the soil. The ground gave way in an irregular fashion, and the house tore itself apart.

Pictures of the broken home found their way into research papers and textbooks, one of which instructed readers that vegetation is not a clear clue to what lies below, “Note the large birch trees on the site,” it said about the Farmers Loop site.

“The best advice to an owner or contractor who is thinking of building on permafrost is ‘don’t,’” the builders’ manual declared. “The advice is seldom heeded, however.”

The house changed hands several times and ended up in the hands of the state, which leased it at one point to the Permafrost Technology Foundation for $1 a year.

It attracted researchers and vandals. In 1993, the state had the University Fire Department burn it down.

That solved the liability problem, but it deprived us of a chance to see how long it would have been before the building collapsed.

The building is preserved, in a sense, in a unique collection of photographs by librarian Marvin Falk.

Falk, an expert in rare books who is retired from the Rasmuson Library at UAF, has photographed about 700 buildings in the Fairbanks area.

He said many people are interested in old cabins, but he is also fascinated by the buildings constructed in the decades that followed, ranging from Island Homes to the one-of-a-kind frame structures that add flavor to the community.

“Some of these guys were jacks-of-all-trades and not professional builders,” he said, and they made do with whatever materials they could scrounge or afford.

Lately he has taken numerous photos of Samson Hardware and the other buildings scheduled to be demolished to make way for the long-delayed bridge over the Chena River at Barnette Street.

Most of his subjects are not on the National Register of Historic Places, but they are historic, reflecting the era before giant commercial enterprises and suburban commuters. Some of the buildings are shacks, others are hand-crafted gems.

As I looked through his photo albums, which he said he will eventually give to the university archives, I was struck by how the buildings all reflect a spirit of individuality that is often missing from new housing developments.

And as I turned the pages, I was surprised to see a ramshackle cabin, probably built in the 1920s, where I lived in the 1970s. It is now unoccupied, but it was a comfortable place to live, within walking distance of downtown and small enough that the heating bill was low.

In the winter, the front room would fill with fog whenver the front door was opened. There was a root cellar under the kitchen and nothing in the place was level. The pipes liked to freeze during the winter.

It was just a couple of feet from the sidewalk, and I remember getting up one winter morning to find a drunken stranger dozing in a chair by the door. He had wandered in and sat down, not quite sure where he was.

If the walls could talk, Falk’s photos would be accompanied by 700 other such stories of life in Fairbanks.

Falk said he is interested in hearing from people who have suggestions about old buildings he should photograph. He can be contacted at mfalk@ak.net.

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BUILDING HISTORY: Debbie Ackiss wrote recently about an experience she had at the store she has opened at 220 Minnie St.: Thriftiques Antiques.

“From what I have heard from many of the customers coming into the store, the older building has a lot of history behind it — from being a fabric store to a car wash,” she said.

“Earlier this winter, someone left a note on the doorstep. It simply stated in neat handwriting that in 1949, the building was located at the old Weeks Field Airport and was occupied by the original Weather Bureau.

“It was signed ‘former Weather Bureau employee,’” she said.

“I haven’t verified this — I wouldn’t know who to ask — but I appreciate the fact that this ‘former Weather Bureau employee’ who has to have weathered at least 80 or more winters in Fairbanks took the time to stop and drop the note,” she said.