Listing of the Day
Location: Marquette, Michigan
Price: $20 million
A hunter’s paradise is on the market in the form of a retro compound and massive lodge on 415 acres in Michigan.
"They don’t build lodges like that anymore, with that type of craftsmanship," listing agent Chase Erickson said. "The property is only about 20 minutes north of Marquette, Michigan. You do feel secluded on the property, but you’re only 20 minutes from town."
A taxidermied bear, wolf, and many deer line the living room and halls. The property was listed a few years ago for $40 million and a total of 5,000 acres, and the option to purchase more land is still on the table. With up to 7.8 square miles of wilderness, it’s a nice option for an outdoorsman or someone who values privacy—and nostalgia—above all else.
The name of the property—Granot Loma—is a hodgepodge of the names of the family who built the house in 1919: banking executive Louis Graveraet Kaufman and his wife Marie, and three out of five of their children Louis, Graveraet and Otto. Tom Baldwin, a bond trader from Chicago, purchased and restored the property in 1987.
Granot Loma became a National Historic Landmark in 1991.
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Stats
The lodge has 26,000 square feet, 23 bedrooms, 12 full bathrooms, one half bathroom, and 26 fireplaces.
The property has one mile of Lake Superior frontage, with the option to purchase an additional mile of lakefront land.
The Northern Lights can be viewed from the property, and it has its own six-acre island. A defunct farm with 13 buildings, including a large barn, sustained Granot Loma’s residents in the 1920s to 1940s.
Design Pedigree
The lodge resembles a log cabin but is built on a steel frame. All of the construction is original except for the kitchen and a breakfast nook within an atrium, which were added in the late 1980s by Mr. Baldwin.
American-Indian murals by Orry Kelly, a Hollywood costume designer who worked on films until the mid 1960s, are on view throughout the house. Virtually everything in the lodge is vintage or antique, from the silver and mother of pearl-inlaid pool table and the Steinway baby grand piano to the jukebox in the bar. An 18-foot stone mantle in the great room is even older, and was salvaged from a sunken vessel in Lake Superior when the home was constructed.
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Celebrity Cachet
Granot Loma has had many celebrity visitors in its day, from Fred Astaire to Muhammad Ali. George Gershwin played the piano that’s still on display in the lodge.
Talking Point
"Nothing compares, not even oceans, to Lake Superior," Mr. Erickson said. "There’s world-class fishing on Big Garlic and Little Garlic Rivers that run through the property, and obviously world-class fishing on Lake Superior. You have access to ATV trails from the property."
Mr. Erickson said that most likely, Granot Loma’s new owner will be either an individual buyer or a corporate buyer that could turn it into a retreat or rehab center.
Agent: Chase C. Erickson, Wild Rivers Realty & Associates, Inc.
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