Korner's Folly, Victorian house in Kernersville, North Carolina, US.

Korner's Folly is a 6,000-square-foot brick house of three and a half stories, measuring 48 feet on each side with four bays and a shingled cross-gable roof. Built in 1880, it originally combined dwelling, stable and carriage house, with an open carriageway through its center. Its 22 rooms hold 15 fireplaces, cast-plaster details, carved woodwork and hand-laid tiles.

Jule Gilmer Körner built the house in 1880 after returning to his native Kernersville, where he also started an interior decorating business. He had made his fortune painting Bull Durham tobacco bulls on buildings and barns along the American east coast. After marrying Polly Alice Masten and having two children, Gilmer and Dore, he closed the open carriageway and renovated the house to its present 22-room floor plan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

The third floor holds "Cupids Park," which the museum calls the oldest private theater in America. Jule and Polly Alice Körner built it as part of their "Juvenile Lyceum," a philanthropic project giving local children access to the arts. Local theatrical groups still use the stage, and the Körner's Folly Foundation stages a puppet show there several times a year for children and school groups.

Self-guided tours run Tuesday to Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, with the last entry at 3 pm. The house stands on South Main Street in Kernersville, within the South Main Street Historic District. Allow time for three and a half floors and 22 rooms.

Despite the name, the house was no mistake: Körner himself gave it the label 'Folly' as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the extravagant style he had deliberately chosen. The word 'folly' was used in the 19th century to describe architectural whims built more for imagination than for reason.