March 13, 2012

Inside the House: Wildwood

A Pretty Spectacular Midwestern Lake House

Real Estate
blog

We admit we’re itching for summer.

We’re starting to think of holidays (Capri? St. Trop? Croatian Coast?), juice fasts, bikinis, and cute, tan boys … (that list is not necessarily in order of importance, by the way).

And with summer comes, of course, summer real estate. While we haven’t yet started plucking out our favorite Hamptons, Malibu, and Marbella houses (we’ll let you know when we do), we did recently personally visit a lake house which, in all our meanderings through amazing real estate, made us go “hmmm.”

What do we love about it? Well, there’s something old-fashioned and Great Gatsby-ish about this one. It feels like the type of place you’d bring your Harvard boyfriend to meet your family. (Aaaah, we wish.)

Built in the early 1900’s, Wildwood was designed by William Schuchardt and sits on five acres and 338 feet of lake frontage in Southern Wisconsin, making it the ideal weekend pad for those of you who live in Chicago (or, of course, Milwaukee). Wildwood was built over a period of three years from plans dated 1910 for Mr. Richard W. Houghton’s Wisconsin residence. Mr. Houghton, who traded in lumber and coal, would travel from his home in Philadelphia by private train car, then “buggy up” to Wildwood to spend the summer months. Wildwood originally covered over 500 acres and included the stately home, pastures and fields, a farmhand house, and an extensive carriage house which still stands on the adjacent property to the north

The house, which is listed for $3.4 million, hasn’t been on the market in forty years so it could use a little freshening up, but who wouldn’t want to freshen up one of the coolest billiards rooms we’ve seen, a tennis court (avec a pro shop, bien sur), an old-fashioned big swimming pool with a diving board, a 500 square foot playhouse (with its own fireplace, glass-enclosed bookshelves, cast iron sink and stove), and a “wow-we-want-it” living room? Oh, and one other thing we love about it: The house’s sleeping porches, which are reminiscent of an era-gone-by. (Good fodder for another Bungalux article.) The home's original details also include original phones, fire hoses and hidden bookshelves.

You must take a look at the photos on this Bungalux and read about its cool history. It’s rare we give a non-celeb-owned house a full article, but we think this one is all so deserving.

Oh, and email us your own favorite lake house listings or talk about them on our discussion board. After all, once we find our Harvard alum we’ll need someplace to bring him home to.

And See More Photos Here ...



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