The ninth annual Lundie Vacation Home Tour on July 13, 2013 featuring homes and landmarks on the east end of the county was another rousing success for the Schroeder Area Historical Society. Above left: A Swedish compound capitalized on color, as evidenced by this window box full of blooms. Above: This cabin, built in 1918, was the subject of a book published 10 years later by its builder, Chilson Aldrich. Walking into this bedroom, with its vintage curtains in the windows and Hudson Bay blankets on the bed, is like walking straight into yesterday. Left: Two architects and Lundie experts—Scott Berry (left) and Dale Mulfinger (right)—helped lead the tour. One of Mulfinger’s homes was featured on the tour. Far left: This Lundie home, completed in 1958 and preserved in its original state, ignites the imagination like a vintage children’s storybook.
How often does a person get to go on an architectural tour with professionals who either designed the houses or are experts on the architects who did? The 90 participants in the sold-out ninth annual Lundie Vacation Home Tour on July 13, 2013 did just that. The event is a fundraiser for the Schroeder Area Historical Society.
On the tour were Richard Olson of Hovland, designer for two of the homes on the tour; architect Scott Berry, who helped develop the Edwin Lundie room at the Cross River Heritage Center in Schroeder; and architect and author Dale Mulfinger, who designed one of the homes on the tour and has published numerous books on cabins and one on the work of the tour’s namesake, architect Edwin Lundie.
Lundie designed many homes and cabins up and down the North Shore and is known for his intricately carved timber frame structures. A magnificent example of this is the home of Jeanne Robinson, the first stop on the tour. To avoid deterioration through exposure to the elements, the timber frame of this house on the shore of Lake Superior is concealed by white wood siding, giving it a cheerful demeanor. Unlike some of the other Lundie homes in Cook County, the interior wood is all whitewashed, carrying the brightness of the exterior to the soaring spaces inside the house.
Carvings are abundant inside the home, from texturing on the timbers to carved vent covers, wooden handles, and stairway balustrade. In his book, The Architecture of Edwin Lundie, Dale Mulfinger writes, “Every element inside of this cabin, except for the furniture, was specifically designed by Lundie and custom built by local craftsmen.”
According to a description of the home provided to tour-goers, “When it was completed in 1958, Lundie’s wife commented that this was one of her favorites among her husband’s works. You will note that there has been no remodeling of the house; all is original today as when it was completed in the late 1950s. The Robinson family still owns the house, totaling four generations of enjoyment.” Indeed, walking into the house is like walking into a vintage children’s storybook.
The tour moved from there to a cabin called Trailsyde owned and rented out by Harry Drabik. It was built in 1918 by Chilson and Darragh Aldrich. Chilson Aldrich was an architect who wrote about the cabin in his 1928 book, The Real Log Cabin. The small cabin is the epitome of a traditional log cabin in the woods, complete with log furniture, vintage curtains in the windows, and Hudson Bay wool blankets on the beds.
The next home on the tour was a Swedish compound partly designed by Richard Olson. Those familiar with traditional Swedish design would recognize an abundance of Swedish touches, from the use of primary colors to the curtained bed nooks and rosemaling. Turn-of-the-century Swedish artist Carl Larsson, who painted many images of his own house and family in the Swedish countryside, would probably feel at home here.
Also designed by Richard Olson was one of the houses in the Anderson family compound on a narrow Lake Superior peninsula in Hovland. The three Anderson brothers, all Lutheran ministers, purchased the property when they were young after discussing the fact that ministers usually had no homes or properties of their own.
Olson spent a great deal of time working with Oz and Jean Anderson on the design of their retirement home, which was finally built in 2006 – and burned down a year later. The current house, filled with windows overlooking the lake, is a replica of the original.
Also on the property is the hexagonal, art-filled home of Mark and Donna Anderson, called “Hyggie,” their version of the Norwegian word hyggelig, which according to an article in Lake Superior Magazine by former Cook County News-Herald columnist Beryl Singleton Bissell means “cozy, warm, friendly and comfortable.” They hit it on the nail.
Younger generations enjoy the charms of two old cabins on the site, built in 1924 and 1940.
Also on the tour was the lake home owned by Mark and Kitty Westin and designed by Dale Mulfinger. “We discovered Dale Mulfinger through his regular newspaper column about cabins and cabin design in the Star Tribune,” Mark wrote. “It was obvious that Dale ‘got it’ when it came to the essentials embodied in a family retreat. We provided Dale with a lengthy list of attributes, many of which required clairvoyant interpretation: we wanted a cabin and not another house; fit the contours of the rock, trees and existing nature; if anything, it should feel a little small; open and adjoining communal areas; two bedrooms max (and Dale threw in a loft); no separate master bath—sharing is the whole idea; no drywall; maximize windows; fireplace and a wood stove; yes, detach the garage; no, we don’t want a lawn.” The result is warm and inviting.
Two Cook County landmarks were also part of this year’s Lundie tour: Trinity Lutheran Church in Hovland and Naniboujou Lodge. Trinity is a work of art painstakingly crafted in the late 1940s with the help of a lot of people, including students from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. Its ties to St. Olaf are strong. The building was designed by professor, artist, and sculptor Arnold Flaten, head of the Art Department at the time, with help from church architect Ed Sovik. Recruiting a lot of the help was Dr. Howard Hong, a St. Olaf professor who owned a large tract of land in Hovland.
Trinity is characterized by elaborate carvings on its interior timbers and doors, an Arnold Flaten stained glass window, and use of natural rock “in harmony with the rugged setting of the North Shore,” according to current pastor Kris Garey. Donations of artwork have continued through the years, more recently including a metal sculpture by Ham Muus of Grand Marais and a cross created by Duane Johnson of Hovland out of the stump of a large tree taken down last year.
The last stop was Naniboujou Lodge, where the tour ended with a gourmet dinner in the historic and highly colorful great room painted in the style of the Cree Indians. At the north end of the room is a 200-ton fireplace, the largest native stone fireplace in Minnesota. The lodge, on the National Register of Historic Places, began as an exclusive club for the wealthy, opening in 1929 just before the crash of the stock market that led to the Great Depression. Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey were among its charter members.
Thus ended the latest Lundie tour. It was a day of distinction.
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