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UNTAIN TIME When a new family wanted to update a Swiss-revival rambler overlooking Lake Superior, they mixed old-school charm with modern style. WRITTEN BY FRANK BURES | PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURA JEAN MEDIA SERVICES
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esign professional Paul Stankey was having a beer with a contractor to talk about a project they were working on: High on a ridge above Duluth, looking out over Lake Superior, was an alpine chalet-style home. It had been built in 1955 and never updated. Now the new owners wanted to gut it and add on. Construction was supposed to start in a month. “The contractor made a quick little napkin sketch,” Stankey recalls. “It was just a rough idea of what the addition could look like. It was a five-line drawing: two roof planes, two walls and a ground plane. I said, ‘Well, that's a pretty good idea.’ And just I took it ran.” The house was an odd one: The family who built it had lived in Austria, and wanted to retire in a chalet in the alps—in Duluth. Since it was the mid-twentieth century, the structure ended up being a ranch-style rambler as seen through the lens of a Swiss mountain house. “The house had a long layout but an overwhelming Austrian-Swiss vibe,” says Stankey. Stankey really liked the mash-up: “I was amazed to see how easily the Swiss chalet vernacular blends with a mid-twentieth-century aesthetic.” Both schools have a kind of elegant restraint. Both favor low-slung profiles, deep overhangs, subtle detailing and a taste for richly grained wood. To give himself a jolt of inspiration, Stankey flipped through personal photos taken on past ski trips to the Alps. He also scoured architectural books for a deeper understanding of the Swiss chalet motif. He lightly reworked the layout and added tender architectural moments throughout. For instance, he remade a defunct cottage fireplace into a contemporary hearth using all the original bricks. For the dining room ceiling, he added thick beams salvaged from an historic Duluth factory. About a year after Stankey finished his work, the owners brought in interior designer Victoria Sass, principal at Prospect Refuge Studio in south Minneapolis. “They waited until we had a plan in place before they bought anything, which always yields the best results,” says Sass. The White Room is the grandest space in the house, with its oversized footprint, 20-foot vaulted ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Superior. Sass was well aware that such a massive space could easily feel cold and uninviting. So she gave it dual purposes. The lakeside of the room is more adult-oriented; the gardenside is more relaxed and informal, a natural go-to area for the two teens in the house. Back-to-back Crate & Barrel sofas in a custom citron upholstery mark the dividing line. For the grown-up side, Sass reupholstered the family’s pre-existing chairs in a soft, white boucle fabric. Then she added jute rugs from Starck and coffee tables from Made Goods. The owner was happy to see his perfectly broken-in vintage Eames lounger get a place of honor near the austerely asymmetrical plaster fireplace. The teen-centric gardenside of the room has poufs, a piano and board games galore. “We were careful to make sure every space has a distinct purpose because a space without a purpose never gets used,” says Sass. For example, the den is used for arts & crafts, homework and watching TV. That space is outfitted with a pillowy sofa by Moroso, vintage rugs, a Saarinen table, Nakashima chairs, a Brendan Ravenhill pendant and a Rumford-style fireplace. It’s a space for the family as it is now. Says Sass: “You go from having small, sticky children to having more mature kids with different social structures. Teenagers want more ‘hangouts.’” One of Sass’s favorite elements is in the dining room. “[The owner] pulled this old sign out of the garage and said, ‘Do you think we can do something with this?’ I was like: ‘absolutely!'” Turns out that the sign is an heirloom, a vintage advertisement for a restaurant once owned by the family. Sass complemented the sign with a Modo light fixture and Hans Wegner dining chairs. Integrating past, present and future is part of what Sass loves about her job. “We all have many layers to ourselves, just like old houses. Our histories overlap with who we are today and who we aspire to be.” 22 | NORTH
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“I was amazed to see how easily the Swiss chalet vernacular blends with a mid-twenthieth century aesthetic.” – PAUL STANKEY, DESIGN PROFESSIONAL
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