Highfield House is a castle on a hill

by Alison Stucke

Highon a hill in the Kenwood neighborhood of Duluth is a house named, by its owner and creator, Highfield. Standing tall and strong, and built with steel and concrete like a modern-day castle, Highfield overlooks Lake Superior, including a view of Park Point and Superior’s South Shore. An almost endless stairway winds up the front of the house to the huge entry doors on the second floor, which sits above the 12 foot tall basement and garage. The third story towers even further, high into the clouds.

“I call it ‘Castle Lite’ style,” says owner Brian Maki, who built the house in 2013-2014. “I looked for an old house, but they needed too much work, so I designed and built a brand new old Duluth house.”

A modern-day castle

Massive rock excavation was needed to build on the hill. The home’s double-reinforced poured concrete walls were made 12 inches thick. Structural steel and 2-by-8 exterior walls add even more strength and support. “It’s built to last,” Brian says.

The house was designed by Heather Hiner of Hiner Home Designs. Interior design was by Sherry Simmons of Veshe’ Inc. Brian is proud to say that the entire home was built by Union trades workers, including carpenters, iron workers cement masons, and laborers. “We had as many as 40 guys on site doing different things,” Brian says. The castle feel of the home continues inside, where wrought iron and stamped metal details, including hanging pendant lights and chandeliers, appear everywhere. Kitchen appliances are stainless steel. All countertops throughout the home, including on the kitchen countertops and island, are made of a gray-black granite that reminds Brian, who grew up on the Iron Range, of taconite. Like the stone floor of an ancient palace, slate tile floors by Johnson Carpet One recur throughout the house.

With touches of warmth and comfort

But even with all that steel, the home is warm and soft inside, with many inviting overstuffed chairs and sofas placed strategically for lake viewing, comfortable reading, or sitting and chatting with friends. Fireplaces on all three levels add warmth to the modern-day castle. And countless windows in a variety of sizes give natural light and breathtaking views, including the Lake Superior Sitting Room on the top floor, which contains a sofa facing a wall of windows on the lakeside of the house, as well as in the master bedroom.

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Far Left: There’s no place like home in the open living and dining area at Highfield House. Left: A spacious utilitarian kitchen is warmed up with dark cabinets and inviting counter tops.

At every turn Highfield House offers warm and inviting spaces in which to visit or sit quietly and read.

Highfield House sits high above the city with a a spectacular view of the vistas below. Every room invites visitors to enjoy their time in the castle-like home.

“When I lie in bed, all I see is water,” Brian says. He planned it like that when the house was built, having climbed a ladder and marked a tree at the point where the eyeline is of Lake Superior. Through two smaller windows above his bed, lights from Duluth’s antenna farm twinkle and remind Brian of his father, who graduated from high school in Duluth in 1949, and who would sometimes climb the radio towers.

The library on the second floor is like “a mini Kitchi Gammi Club”, Brian says, with its warm brown interior, including wooden sliding doors and revolving bookshelves. Traditional woodwork throughout the dwelling includes shelving, benches, and window seats, as well as a black walnut floor in the sitting room on the upper level.

And modern conveniences

This thoroughly-modern structure contains many conveniences and comforts that castle-dwellers of old could only dream about, including a state-of-the-art security system. Next to the Great Room in the basement (which displays Brian’s impressive gun collection and includes a bar and billiards table) is a comforting sauna and steam room. A throughout-thehouse sound system can keep the entire home rocking with tunes. An elevator installed by Arrow Lift makes moving about the three tall levels effortless and keeps the home accessible. Almost all the art in Brian’s home is the work of local artists from Lizzard’s Art Gallery and Framing in Duluth.

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General Contractor - Lakehead Constructors, Inc.

Subcontractors

Campbell Lumber - Building Materials

Great Lakes Stone - Stone and Stone work

Hiner Home Design - Home Plan Design

Johnson Carpet One - Flooring

Kylmala Truss - Trusses

Veshe, Inc. - Interior Design and Selection of Interior/Exterior Materials

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“We’ve had some great parties here,” Brian says. “We had my mother’s 80th birthday party, and I throw an annual holiday party for 120 guests. When we don’t have a piano player, we turn on the player piano in the Great Room.”

A home created for family

Brian shares the home with his 17-year-old son. Two cats and a German Shephard dog also enjoy living at Highfield. Brian’s older three children enjoy visiting the home on breaks and weekends from college.

Brian likes to think his grandparents would be very proud of the beautiful “new old home” he’s built on the hill in Duluth. He often thinks of them and the home that they shared on Woodland Ave. many years ago.

“My grandfather came to Duluth from Finland in December 1917,” Brian explains. “I built Highfield in homage of my grandparents and people who came from Finland. It’s a stout, well-built structure and a proud-looking home, I’d say.” D