Seth Peterson Cottage
Encyclopedia
The Seth Peterson Cottage is a two-room lakeside cottage
located in Mirror Lake State Park
outside Lake Delton, Wisconsin
It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
in 1958.
resident Seth Peterson convinced Wright, who was then 90 years old, to design a cottage for him in 1958. Peterson took his own life before the cottage was finished, and the next owners completed the work. Mirror Lake State Park was established nearby in 1962, and in 1966 the land on which the cottage stood was acquired by the state and added to the park. Away from the developed areas of the park, however, the cottage was neglected and fell into disrepair. In the late 1980s Audrey Laatsch, a local resident, noticed the run-down cabin while canoeing on Mirror Lake and became interested in the structure. Upon discovering its origin, she spearheaded a grass-roots campaign among local residents and Wright-aficionados to restore the cottage. They founded a non-profit organization
, the Seth Peterson Cottage Conservancy, in 1989. Their efforts funded a $300,000, three-year restoration that included elements from Wright's original designs that had never been built. The work was finished in June 1992, the 125th anniversary of Wright's birth.
The plight of the condition of the cottage was made widely known via a 1986 Wisconsin State Journal
article entitled "What Would You Do If You Owned a Frank Lloyd Wright House? P.S. You Do." While the cottage had been known to locals, this article publicized the embarrassing condition of the cottage and possibly energized the movement to rehabilitate it. The article was written by the late author Joyce Rogell Kult, a long-time Wright afficianado, researcher, and artist.
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
located in Mirror Lake State Park
Mirror Lake State Park
Mirror Lake State Park is a Wisconsin state park in the Wisconsin Dells region. It contains Mirror Lake, a narrow reservoir with steep sandstone sides up to tall. The lake has a surface area of and an average depth of . Recessed out of the wind, the water of Mirror Lake is usually calm and...
outside Lake Delton, Wisconsin
Lake Delton, Wisconsin
Lake Delton is a village located on the Wisconsin River in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 1,982, but in 2009, it had an estimated population of 3,081 which is a 55.4% increase. It also makes it the largest community in the Dells...
It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
in 1958.
History
WisconsinWisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
resident Seth Peterson convinced Wright, who was then 90 years old, to design a cottage for him in 1958. Peterson took his own life before the cottage was finished, and the next owners completed the work. Mirror Lake State Park was established nearby in 1962, and in 1966 the land on which the cottage stood was acquired by the state and added to the park. Away from the developed areas of the park, however, the cottage was neglected and fell into disrepair. In the late 1980s Audrey Laatsch, a local resident, noticed the run-down cabin while canoeing on Mirror Lake and became interested in the structure. Upon discovering its origin, she spearheaded a grass-roots campaign among local residents and Wright-aficionados to restore the cottage. They founded a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, the Seth Peterson Cottage Conservancy, in 1989. Their efforts funded a $300,000, three-year restoration that included elements from Wright's original designs that had never been built. The work was finished in June 1992, the 125th anniversary of Wright's birth.
The plight of the condition of the cottage was made widely known via a 1986 Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin State Journal
The Wisconsin State Journal is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin...
article entitled "What Would You Do If You Owned a Frank Lloyd Wright House? P.S. You Do." While the cottage had been known to locals, this article publicized the embarrassing condition of the cottage and possibly energized the movement to rehabilitate it. The article was written by the late author Joyce Rogell Kult, a long-time Wright afficianado, researcher, and artist.