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W. B. Hathaway summer residence, alterations
Purcell, Feick and Elmslie
Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota 1910
Text by William Gray Purcell
Parabiographies entry, Volume for 1910
Job Date (in Parabiographies): October 10, 1910
W. B. Hathaway
With help from E. Fitch Pabody, George Feick landed this job--alteration of an old box type of lake cottage. The new design elements--full octagon porch, long horizontal screened openings, windows in groups, generally quiet lines, and an opening from living room to porch, the full width of the porch, closed with many doors and no m[u]llions. The designing is W.G.P. The draughting is generally Marian (sic) Parker's with some items by George Feick [the original draft reads: "with G[eorge] F.[eick]'s scratchy, little half-exasperated notes swearing at the end and that all over the neat orderly drawings].
The lake cottage of that day was either a shack or overdone. Something quiet and thoughtful, a pattern organized to sing a bit under the trees against the flat lake, was a novelty. In this house we installed one of our raised fireplaces with a really comfortable and inviting seat, all very carefully detailed in a very professional looking drawing by Lawrence A. Clapp. We also designed a nicely worked out functional fence of wood, pipe rails, and metal mesh. Miss [Parker] made a real "thesis on fences" of this design, and it was really worthy of 1939. [when WGP wrote this critique]
This is one of the only two or three buildings built from our plans which I never saw. George Feick superintended it, and after 1910, seldom went to Minnetonka. Our work through the years was always with buildings. We built them in twenty-one states. We went where they were and gave their production our personal attention at the site, as episodes in the Fine Art of Building.
Alabama California Illinois Iowa Kansas (Elmslie) Massachusetts Minnesota Missouri Montana Nebraska New Hampshire New York North Carolina
North Dakota Ohio (Elmslie) Oregon Pennsylvania South Dakota Washington Wisconsin China (not built)
Collection: William Gray Purcell Papers, Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota [AR:B4d1.4]
research courtesy mark hammons