This Tudor-style estate has it all: fine architectural details, intricate millwork, and an enviable location on Lake Minnetonka’s Gray’s Bay. Features such as an enormous cast-stone fireplace in the two-story great room, the Juliet balcony with its curved baluster railing, and the turret off the grand entry foyer reinforce the fairy-tale feel of the 9,800-square-foot home.
“The homeowners wanted everything in the home to be true to the Tudor style,” says builder Sven Gustafson of Stonewood, LLC. And it is. Throughout the house, Stonewood’s attention to authentic style and bravura woodworking is on display—in the quarter-sawn oak millwork surrounding arched doorways, paneled walls, baseboards, crown moldings, and cabinetry. No woodworking detail has been overlooked—from intricately carved rosettes in the bookcase built into the upper sitting room to the egg-and-dart crown molding in the den. Still, the pièce de résistance is the front staircase, with its quatrefoil design panels and custom newel posts.
Built for a family with two children, the house is at once eminently livable and grand. The generous open kitchen and dining room are adjacent to the great room and a smaller hearth room with its own cast-stone fireplace. A roomy butler’s pantry, kitchen office, laundry room, and secondary entry foyer with loads of built-in storage add practical family spaces.
Upstairs are four bedroom suites. The space reserved for the owners features a dressing room and closet for her, a closet for him, and an enormous bathroom with his-and-her vanities, two toilet rooms, and claw-foot tub surrounded by Carrara marble, and black-walnut cabinetry with exquisite burl panels. Down the wide hallway and four stairs are the children’s suites—both bedrooms with lovely window seats and built-in storage—and a laundry room with two washers and dryers. A guest suite and a sitting room round out the second floor.
The lower-level bar, media room, pool table, sitting area, and game table add to the entertainment possibilities. Rounding out this floor are an exercise room and two additional bedroom suites—one with a special kid-friendly feature: a hidden loft tucked above the ceiling. The youngest members of the family can scoot up a ladder to spend a cozy afternoon in this Wayzata castle.
By Chris Lee
Photos by Spacecrafting
Builder: Stonewood, LLC
Home location: Wayzata
Sponsors:
Eskuche Associates
Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery
Granite-Tops
Griffin Gallery
Hedberg Landscape & Masonry Supplies
Martha O’Hara Interiors
Orion Home Systems, LLC
Phantom Screens
Scherer Bros. Cabinets & Closets