Midgaard

About this property

Midgaard, also known as the Lautner Cottage, is a chalet style log cabin located on Middle Island Point, near Marquette, Michigan. It is significant as the first building that then-12-year-old John Lautner (later an influential American architect) helped construct. Midgaard was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. John E. Lautner Sr. was born in 1865 in Greilickville, Michigan, to parents who had recently immigrated from Austria. Lautner attended the University of Michigan, graduating in 1893 and continuing studies in Europe. In 1903, he accepted a position as a professor of languages and sociology at Northern State Normal School (now Northern Michigan University) in Marquette. In 1907, Lautner married Vida Cathleen Gallagher, the daughter of Irish immigrants and one of his students at Northern. The couple had two children: John Lautner Jr (later an influential architect), born in 1911, and Kathleen Lautner, born in 1915. In 1912, John and Vida Lautner built a wood framed New England saltbox-style house in Marquette, based on a design jointly developed by Vida Launter and New Jersey architect Joy Wheeler Dow. They dubbed the house "Keepsake." In the early 1920s, the Lautners began to be interested in building a summer cottage on Middle Island Point, and in 1921 they bought four shares in the Middle Island Point Campers' Association. Over the next two years, the Lautners planned the construction and decor of the cottage, being heavily influenced by Norwegian folk architecture guides. The Lautners chose a prominent cliff overlooking Lake Superior on which to position their cabin. They began construction in 1923, using spruce logs cut nearby and skidded up the incline. The construction was done primarily by John Lautner and his son, John Lautner, Jr., with occasional help from some of Lautner's students. John Jr.'s early experience with construction and design of the Midgaard cabin heavily influenced his understanding of craftmanship and later architectural work. Construction stretched over several years, and was completed in 1927. The following year, Vida Lautner wrote articles about Midgaard, which were featured in Progressive Education and Home Building,; the chalet was also featured in Marquette's local newspaper. The Lautners continued to own the cottage for many years. John Lautner Sr. died in 1943, after which Vida Lautner moved to Chicago. However, both Vida and John Lautner Jr. visited multiple times, up to her death in 1978 and his in 1994. John Lautner Jr. replaced the roof in 1932, and constructed a terrace on the north side (facing the lake) in 1939. Two balconies originally on the north and south sides were demolished in the 1980s due to structural deterioration and were never replaced. It was John Lautner Sr.'s wish that the cabin remain in the family "ad infinitum", and it is still owned by his descendants.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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