'DREAM' HOUSE CHAOTIC CONSTRUCTION HAS AN ECLECTIC VISION BEHIND IT.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS

Staff Writer

TARZANA -- A man sharpens a knife on a grindstone as a goose honks in its pen. Bogdan is almost done creating the flowers. And a young, Polish-American genius has some big ideas he's dying to share with the world.

Near Corbin Avenue and Topham Street, the majestic craziness unfolds daily. On a three-quarters of an acre lot sits a shack, a shell of a house, an intricate gazebo, a bizarre sculpture of a beautiful woman beneath a boulder -- and an enigma.

A tough ex-sailor built a life and this project with his own hands and his fast-talking son. It has a couple of classic cars, a rabbit and some expensive rocks. A mysterious artist who works with steel and an eye for natural beauty.

And at its heart, it has a dream.

"Have you seen my goat?" said Roman Manko, a burly man with a handlebar mustache and a whimsical imagination. "You've got to get a picture of the goat."

The goat, whose name is Goat, runs through the construction site. He will be among the first residents of Manko's vision, along with chickens, geese, some cats and a rabbit that has a fondness for shoes. They will live on the grounds of an estate Manko purchased six years ago and began fixing up in 2004.

Currently, the site is an amalgam of farm, construction odds-and-ends and a half-built guest house.

That guest house will only be the small structure. The big one, when complete in several years, will occupy more than 3,000square feet and stand more than 30 feet tall.

"It's sort of Victorian, but Victorian's a little blah," said Chris Manko, Roman's 22-year-old son and protege. "New Victorian, I'd say. Modern Victorian. ... My dad's house in Europe tops this easily."

The elder Manko arrived in the United States more than 20 years ago after a stint in the Merchant Marine. He was good with his hands. He started a business, General Builders & Construction Co. He got jobs rebuilding restaurants and handling a lot of far-out design.

On those jobs, he developed his eye for the bizarre and his collection of odd artifacts that will make up his dream house. He found a lock from a Pullman railroad car and hung it on his gate. An old sign from a defunct state highway agency. A bunch of hand-crafted artificial boulders to surround a sculpture. An old bank vault for the front door.

The jobs gave him his crew of workers, as well. There's Frank, who is Czech and communicates in a mixture of his native tongue, Polish and English. There's Bogdan, who transforms steel into intricately painted flowers that look almost real. He works shirtless, his worn, leathery skin contrasting with his wild, white hair.

And, of course, Chris. The younger Manko designs furniture and landscape implements, along with his contracting work. He would like to live in the home one day, whenever they get it finished.

Chris Manko, who is slender and steady on his feet as he scrambles up and down ladders in the unfinished guest house, grew up in construction but can't limit himself to just one niche. Because he sees himself as so versatile, his ambition knows no bounds.

"I'm an entrepreneur," he said. "I can't do just one thing. I'm the only person I know who has this much going. To tell you the truth, I'm going after (real-estate mogul Donald) Trump. I think I could be bigger than him. I've been saying that for years."

He enjoys hanging around with Roman, Frank and Bogdan. After work, sometimes they'll set up a barbecue and cook some meat, kicking back to watch the odd little world they're creating.

"I feel like I'm a sponge," Chris Manko said. "I take something from all these guys. I take all their energy and put it into me."

With that energy, this crew and some salvaged material, Roman Manko plans to turn the mess into beauty. He doesn't have a particular timeline to get it done, just whenever he has the time, the materials and the manpower to get it all in order.

In the meantime, he said, it's just his playground.

"This is a dream come true," he said. "It looks like a junkyard, but believe it or not, everything has a purpose. Who else gets to play around with something like this?"

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Roman Manko stands in front of his sculpture with a gigantic boulder dangling over a kneeling woman outside the home near Corbin Avenue and Topham Street in Tarzana that he has been working on since 2004.

(2 -- color) This guest house Manko is building will only be the small structure on the property. The big one, when complete in several years, will occupy more than 3,000 square feet and stand more than 30 feet tall.

(3 -- color) no caption (sculpture)

(4) Bogdan transforms steel into intricately painted flowers that will be used to decorate Roman Manko's home -- which is being built near Corbin Avenue and Topham Street in Tarzana.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

(5) At the moment, Roman Manko's site is an amalgam of farm, construction odds and ends and a half-built guest house. One day, a goat, chickens, geese, some cats and a rabbit will live there.

Audrey Prest/Daily News