Home The interior Into the Woods

Chicago architect Patrick McGuires 92 - year - old grandmother, Dorothy, had two rules for him when he set out to revamp the familys circa - 1917 log cabin in Wisconsins North Woods: Dont make it too fancy, and Grandpa says share.
Actually, Grandpa Mac stopped providing direct instruction 20 years ago, upon his death, but the McGuircs dont take filial traditions lightly. And nothing ties the generations closer than time spent at the family "camp" on the banks of the Menominee River.
In the late 1960s, Grandpa built a new house on the 57 - acre property with outrageous niceties - running water, a shower, bedroom walls -- and the original 1,300 - square - foot two - room cabin gradually fell into disrepair. Bats, raccoons, and other wild critters found the cabins accommodations quite charming, however, and over time the walls began to reek of assorted mammalian effluvia.
As the old cabin began a slow - motion collapse into the river, its title was bequeathed to McGuire, his brother, two sisters, and their parents. The siblings embarked on an ambitious gut redo with Patrick at the helm, though hed be the first to point out that there are no log cabins in his professional portfolio. Over the course of his career, McGuire has spent the majority of his time amid the travertine and glass of Chicagos downtown residential palaces.

Into the Woods


For most urban architects, making the contextual shift from gleaming marble to notched logs would be a major obstacle; not so for McGuire, who has been visiting this remote area his whole life. He loves the cabin so much, hell drive five hours through snow to spend a weekend burning firewood for heat and warming water on the stove to wash. The log cabins he doesnt care for are the steroidal monstrosities in places Икс Aspen and Tcl - luride - "the Six Flags version of the American West," he calls them. In response to all the mournful moose heads he has seen staring down from walls in cathedral - ceilinged homes in the Rockies, McGuire declared two rules of his own for the cabin - no taxidermy and no gingham. "The simpler the better here," he says. "The focus is on the people inside."
< Prev   Next >
 

Last read