One way to save money on a house is to buy a fixer-upper, right? But sometimes a fixer-upper can cost more than a new house, especially if the owner wants to preserve the character of the period architecture of the original house.
That’s what happened here. This is a 1930’s lodge — a historic building — and situated on a private peninsula.
Over the years, the building had fallen into disrepair, and as it was locked up while not in use, a bunch of new tenants became prisoners — squirrels! The trapped squirrels sought freedom, though, and they chewed apart the casements of the building from inside. Over winters, snow blew in through the cracks and gaps in the exterior walls.
When the new owner bought it, it had 15 inches of water in the basement.
Some updates were undertaken: the layout was modernized, the lighting was updated (more natural light, which was also part of the idea to improve the views of the lake).
The dormer was added, and a custom millwork company was commissioned to replicate the original 1930s windows for the dormer and elsewhere.
The team responsible for this fixer-upper lodge was Christine Albertsson AIA CID and Sonya Carel. Photography by Scott Amundson. It’s quite the lodge, and quite the setting.
