Three houses from famed Lutsen Lodge architect Edwin Lundie are for sale in Minnesota

Architect Edwin Lundie might be best known for the chalk-red Lutsen Lodge, a cherished gathering spot for generations of stone-skipping visitors along the North Shore of Lake Superior that burned to the ground this past February.

Lundie was one of the most sought-after architects of his time, and the tragic loss of that irreplaceable building, one of the best and most accessible examples of his work, rekindled interest in the architect’s portfolio. Iowa-born Lundie had a reputation for passionately designing every detail of a house, from the doorknobs to even some of the furniture.

Time is only making examples of his work more rare. Of the 100 or so houses Lundie designed with his St. Paul-based firm, at least 15 no longer exist.

“Edwin Lundie attracted wealthy clients, and he worked closely with them to build homes that captured their imagination,” said Peter O’Toole, who lives in a Lundie home and has written extensively about the architect. “Unfortunately, a Lundie home is purchased and demolished every few years.”

Gone to the wrecking ball: one of Lundie’s largest commissions, a home designed for the Honeywell family on Lake Minnetonka, and two houses on White Bear Lake.

So it’s an especially rare moment that with only about 85 Lundie houses still in existence, at least three of them are now for sale, including one of Lundie’s largest — and most meticulously updated — remaining residential designs: a 9,300-square-foot house listed for $4.95 million.

“I think it’s far superior to any other Lundie property I’ve seen or toured,” said Sally English, the real estate agent who has the listing. “It’s been preserved and ready to go into the next era.”

The house, at 357 Salem Church Road in Sunfish Lake, is on a nearly 9-acre lot with more than 250 feet of shoreline, a new in-ground swimming pool and tennis courts.

Just southeast of the Twin Cities in Dakota County, the property is especially unusual because it’s the only one to bookend the architect’s career. Originally designed in 1930 shortly after Lundie started designing houses, the home was a simple box structure made for Dr. Fredrick Owen. He then sold it to John and Elizabeth (Lee) Driscoll, who later commissioned Lundie to design an expansion that would suit their children and the kind of entertaining they enjoyed.

That project was completed in 1970, just two years before Lundie died.

O’Toole said like many Lundie owners, the Driscolls were second-generation Lundie clients. Elizabeth Driscoll’s father, a descendant of railroad executive James J. Hill, hired Lundie to build a sprawling stone country house on the North Shore that remains in the family.

The current owners of the Sunfish Lake house, English said, are empty nesters who understood its historical significance and were committed to preserving it.

Not that they had much of a choice.

English, who also lives in Sunfish Lake and has sold many of the houses in the tiny community, said when Elizabeth Driscoll decided to sell the house, she insisted that the buyers honor its history.

“Lee was adamant that it not be torn down,” English said. “It was serendipitous because the buyer has a passion for some of the historical aspects of it.”

Not only did the new owners save the house — they expanded it to make it more compatible with the way families live today while retaining the original features and the elegant Colonial style that was a Lundie hallmark.

The remodel added dormers to some rooms for enhanced views of the lake and a new family room with hand-scraped beams and moldings. There was also a new staircase and railing that matches the original Lundie design. The owners preserved paneled wood and moldings as well as handcrafted hardware and light fixtures throughout the house, including massive, 90-year-old, hand-scraped structural ceiling beams original to the house but now installed in a new hearth room.

A formal Georgian-style dining room added in 1971 is a classic replica of centuries-old architecture. And what had been a hunting and fishing equipment room is now a home office, with vaulted ceilings and pine beams. A wall that formerly held the outdoor gear is now a wall of bookshelves and a gas fireplace.

“The finishes are spectacular,” English said. “The updates were also done in the spirit of the original build. It’s very custom. The woods, the tiles, everything is fantastic.”

Sally English (651-815-3756, sally.english@cbburnet.com) of Coldwell Banker Realty has the $4.95 million listing.

Also on the market from Lundie is 801 Pine Cone Trail in Marine on St. Croix. The $2.15 million home that’s about 45 minutes northeast of the metro area has the nickname “Castle on the St. Croix,” as the nearly 3,800-square-foot house built from stone quarried on site perches on the edge of the St. Croix River.

The Northwest Architectural Archives refers to the house as the D.D. MacMillan Country House. MacMillan, a member of the Cargill clan, initially commissioned a much larger house for a country hunting lodge. But in 1939, two months after construction began, MacMillan died. His sons took on the project but asked Lundie to simply make the house livable.

“It was not completed to the original grand-scale Norman fortification,” O’Toole said. “But it remains a beautiful property.”

Josh Schrock (612-314-5563, info@rizegrp.com) of Rize Realty has the $2.15 million listing.

Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Stocke designed 912 Folwell Drive in Rochester in 1968. Now listed for $1.2 million, the nearly 6,000-square-foot house also came from a family with multigenerational Lundie ties.

The Stockes, like the Driscolls, were second-generation Lundie clients, O’Toole said. Stocke was a contractor who built many of the Mayo Clinic buildings. For Stocke’s family, Lundie also designed a timber cabin on a North Shore bluff overlooking Lake Superior.

O’Toole said this house has a modern floor plan design that’s evocative of a French chateau.

“This Rochester home is beautifully designed inside and out, implemented with perfection by the contractor himself,” O’Toole said.

Nita Khosla (507-254-0041, NitaKhosla@edinarealty.com) of Edina Realty has the $1.2 million listing.

Of Lundie’s 300-or-so commissions, most were building alterations and additions. That’s the case for 1527 W. 4th St., in Red Wing, which sold for $560,000 this summer.

The home overlooks the Mississippi River in the town about an hour south of the Twin Cities. Built in 1916 for the Sweasy family of the Red Wing Shoes fortune, the house didn’t receive the Lundie touch until 1960. That’s when William Sweasy commissioned Lundie to build a great room addition off the back of the house that included a massive brick fireplace and all the old-world charm Lundie loved.