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Courtesy Lynn Wegner
New Beginnings in the Old Neighborhood
Peeking from behind a boat bow, sitting next to another boat, seems natural for Lynn Wegner at his new home in his old Park Point neighborhood in Duluth.
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Courtesy Lynn Wegner
New Beginnings in the Old Neighborhood
Lynn, who moved back to Duluth after nearly 40 years in Houston, purchased two neighboring lots on the bay side of Park Point for his dream home and a woodworking shop.
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Courtesy Lynn Wegner
New Beginnings in the Old Neighborhood
Lynn spent more than 30 years planning every detail of his Park Point dream home.
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Courtesy Lynn Wegner
New Beginnings in the Old Neighborhood
Lynn designed many of the cabinetry pieces, including the flourishes in the master bedroom.
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Courtesy Lynn Wegner
New Beginnings in the Old Neighborhood
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Courtesy Lynn Wegner
New Beginnings in the Old Neighborhood
Lynn’s philosophy for his return to Park Point is “New Beginnings” and he has reminders strategically placed in his interior décor, along with a few maritime related items such as boat anchor chains.
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Courtesy Lynn Wegner
New Beginnings in the Old Neighborhood
Forgoing a dining room in his plans, Lynn designed the kitchen to be the home’s social hub, with ample seating and extra space around the oversized island for entertaining friends and family.
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Courtesy Lynn Wegner
New Beginnings in the Old Neighborhood
Inspiration for the kitchen’s cozy window booth, most of which he constructed himself, came from his favorite Houston restaurant.
“The bay side of Park Point is the only side to live on.” Lynn Wegner – who grew up on the Lake Superior side of this long sandy peninsula in Duluth – is very definite about many things, especially his vision for his home. It’s not a surprise that after more than 30 years of planning, Lynn knew every detail of what he wanted, including a view to the bay.
Looking at the water through the soaring windows in Lynn’s expansive great room, it’s easy to see his point. Enormous vessels pass under the Blatnik Bridge across the bay and make a wide turn toward the Aerial Lift Bridge. Boats unloading at the Clure Public Marine Terminal are in full view just beyond his backyard. “There is activity here all year-round,” Lynn notes. “Shipping slows down in January, but then there are folks ice fishing, skiing and snowshoeing to watch. And the sunsets are gorgeous over the High Bridge.”
Lynn’s favorite boyhood memories are of playing on Park Point. “I ran up and down the beach on the Lake side, making forts using driftwood, and built rafts from logs on the bay side.”
Park Point was a great place to grow up. “It was the kind of place where I knew the name of everyone’s dogs, and what kind of car they drove. It was a wonderful, close thing.”
All parents on the Point watched out for – and helped to raise – everyone’s kids. One parent coached hockey, another was a baseball coach, and someone else taught archery.
Lynn’s love of the Lake and his time in Sea Scouts led him to the Naval Academy and five years in the U.S. Navy. After leaving the military, he spent the next 38 years working in Houston, Texas, before retiring as vice president of operations for The RectorSeal Corporation, a manufacturer of chemical specialty products for plumbing, industrial and construction markets.
In all those years, Park Point was never far from his mind.
“I always considered Park Point home. For me this was heaven – my heart always felt at home here. I always planned on coming back.”
Meanwhile, Lynn collected ideas for his ideal home. He attended open houses, surreptitiously measured rooms, took photographs, clipped articles from magazines and took copious notes.
“I drew many layouts over the years and refined my plans and frequently discussed them with friends. I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted the house to look and how big each room was and where it was to be located.”
In 1994, Lynn took the first step toward realizing his dream. A friend alerted him to a house for sale on the bay side of the Point. Lynn visited, bought the home and told his agent, Lynn Beechler of Lynn Beechler Realty, that he’d like to expand his lot. The next year, he bought the neighboring house. He rented out both houses and bided his time.
When it came time for his masterwork, Lynn brought his plans to Roger Gustofson of Duluth Construction Co. He was impressed with work Roger had done for a friend. Building began in spring 2008 and the plans featured an outside shop for Lynn’s woodworking hobby.
One thing Lynn wanted for his home was space to entertain lots of guests, inside and outside. Having visited regularly and gathered with friends in Duluth throughout his years in Texas, Lynn was eager to repay their hospitality.
To gain more harborside yard, Lynn situated the house as close to the street as possible.
Even while in Texas, Lynn was never far from the home-building action. He visited monthly and weighed in on decisions from Houston. Retiring in 2008, Lynn rented a house on the Point for the final six months of the project.
Sometimes building was an iterative process; he worked closely with Roger to refine the design. “I didn’t always know what I wanted at first. I had to see things, so details evolved while the house was being built. Roger would tell me what was reasonable and what was not. Sometimes I went with things that were not reasonable.”
One example: Openings from the upstairs landing into the great room. Lynn knew there was a terrific view to be had through the load-bearing wall above the great room and asked Roger to cut “the biggest hole you can.” The result is a stunning, framed high-level view of the bay.
True to his character, Lynn was meticulous in selecting materials and in choosing interior details.
He used a technique from Frank Lloyd Wright to let his home “make an entrance.” Its narrow hall entryway, jammed with historic photos and regional paintings, opens into what Lynn describes as “a great room with a series of large windows that bring the outdoors inside and creates a four-season escape that features an outstanding view of all waterfront activities year-round.” The sharp contrast makes a strong visual, almost visceral, impact.
The connected living and kitchen areas are light and spacious, dominated by windows. The 20-foot vaulted ash ceiling is pale, lifting the eyes through several crossbeams of the same wood. A few birch branches lie gracefully across the beams, matched by taller limbs tucked into corners. Spacious couches placed at right angles easily allow guests to take in the warmth of the interior as well as the outdoor panorama. “The colors were inspired by the world outside the windows – comfortable and inviting – combined with rich, warm textures and contrasting fabrics.”
At the far end, a large stone fireplace is anchored by a ship’s wheel over the mantel; it’s Lynn’s design, inspired by the stone he found and his exacting measurements for the components.
Under foot is a durable hand-scraped oak floor that unifies the great room and adjoining kitchen.
The kitchen design, too, benefits from Lynn’s years of research about entertaining guests. “Everyone wants to gather in the kitchen, and the house is designed to accommodate that.”
The kitchen island is encircled by 4 feet of clearance for easy movement around it. “I wanted a large island featuring an overhang for seating. I wanted an open surface area for a cleaner look, not a dual-level island, from low-maintenance Cambria with a thick ogee edge.”
Lynn partnered with Rebecca Lindquist of Lindquist and Company to create the kitchen, the home’s focal point.
Lynn envisioned a bright, airy kitchen with a high, light-colored ceiling with a raised inset for recessed lights. Ambient countertop lighting focuses on the workspaces.
In selecting the appliances, Lynn considered function and look. The heavy-duty style of the Wolf range appealed to him, which he complemented with an extra-large vent hood. Told that no one does relief carvings any more, Lynn persisted until he found someone to craft the pattern he had in mind and had it mounted over the original facing. A stone carving from Lynn’s Park Point school is inlaid in the tile work behind the cooktop – a relic and reminiscence from his past.
The other appliances – refrigerator, twin-drawer dishwasher, warming drawer and wine refrigerator – are hidden behind panels that blend into the cabinetry.
The most unique piece in the kitchen is a booth that seats two. “My favorite restaurant in Houston had a banquette that I sized and wanted featured in my kitchen next to a window looking out over the Duluth Harbor,” Lynn says. He designed and made most of the components himself.
What Lynn’s home does not have is a dining room. A table might fit between kitchen and living area, but it doesn’t fit his lifestyle. Thinking about his later years, he included a full bathroom and den on the first floor that could be converted to a bedroom suite and ordered no-step entries to the house, garage and workshop.
Upstairs there are two large bedrooms and a spacious master bedroom suite. Rebecca played a key role in planning and producing the cabinetry in the master bedroom and bathrooms. Some pieces are crafted to Lynn’s design, such as the rosette that adorns the heavy columns on the dresser and bathroom cabinetry.
Lynn brought few furnishings from Houston, but he has already made good use of his woodworking shop. “I wanted to go exploring again and find materials to make a few special pieces of furniture in my workshop from ‘local stuff’ I found around the harbor.”
The long wall table in his front hall uses 100-year-old planks that floated ashore and spikes from boards found at the water’s edge. Behind his couch, a glasstop table sits on legs fashioned out of old steel lighting towers from an ore dock torn down across the bay.
Lynn indulges in his long fascination with all things maritime through the artifacts in the house and yard. A large anchor on the street side of his home and a ship’s wheel in the backyard were salvaged from Great Lakes freighters. Lynn spent long hours in the Lake Superior Maritime Collections at the University of Wisconsin-Superior library uncovering the history, origins and photos of each item. The framed documentation is in his front hall.
Lynn moved into his new home in June 2009 and began painting every room and refining his interior design. By December, he declared it ready for his first party. The elaborate holiday affair with more than 80 in attendance was so successful, it has become an annual tradition. “I spend a month getting the house ready and decorated,” says Lynn. A friend does most of the cooking.
Winter is not his only month for entertaining. In warmer weather, guests can spill out onto the patio and into the back yard, just as Lynn planned it.
Whether on the Point or traveling, Lynn knows where his true home is. “Whenever I traveled around the country, I always compared it to Park Point, but never found anything that could ever come close to matching living on the water looking out over the busy Duluth harbor.”
Now he can do that every day from the comfort of his own home, and can share the view with old, and new, friends.
Molly Hoeg does freelance writing from Duluth, where she too returned to her roots and built a new home.