{"id":3772,"date":"2024-09-09T01:56:24","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T01:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidnilles.com\/?p=3772"},"modified":"2024-09-13T00:13:04","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T00:13:04","slug":"helgaland-a-k-a-the-gundersen-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidnilles.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/09\/helgaland-a-k-a-the-gundersen-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Helgaland a.k.a. the Gundersen House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Perhaps the coolest house in La Crosse Wisconsin is, in my opinion, Helgaland. Helgaland was the summer residence of Mr. A Gundersen and his wife, Helga. Dr. Gundersen is known as the founder of Gundersen Health System. The home was designed by Bentley and Merman Architects in the year 1918. It is located smack dab in the middle of the Mississippi river on the north end of Pettibone Island. It is so significantly seperate from the city of La Crosse itself, it must have been considered Dakota Minnesota when it was built. All documentation from the architects say it is located in Minnesota, though it is clearly within La Crosse county borders today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The site itself is very unique. Pettibone park is seen along the bottom 2\/3 of the island. The north 61 acres are the site of Helgaland. The property is still in the Gundersen family to this day. Half of the reason this is the coolest house in La Crosse is simply due to the property itself. It is surrounded by the Mississippi on three sides, with a private forest on the fourth side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The designs for the home were found in the La Crosse Public Library archives<\/a>. They are part of the Bentley, Merman, and Skogstad<\/a> collection. The amount of archived architectural drawings is incredibly cool and I know I will be checking out many more of these when I get the chance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of detail is inspiring. Every little element of the building is hand sketched. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Architectural Drawings:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n