| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
EYEBROW DORMER IN MANSARD.
Knollward recalls Oconomowoc’s days as Wisconsin’s premier summer resort. Tourists began flocking here in the 1870s. Eventually, millionaires from Milwaukee, Chicago, and beyond descended on the town each summer, building “cottages” that grew more palatial each year. Marjorie Ward’s Knollward may have been the most spectacular “cottage” of them all. The orphaned niece and adopted heiress of mail-order titan Montgomery Ward, she hired Milwaukee’s Van Alyea and Spinti to create a sprawling thirty-room French Provincial manor. The brick house appears taller than it really is, thanks to its exaggerated first story and its steeply pitched hipped roof covered in slate. In 1932, when Marjorie married Robert Baker, she added a wing to the north, linked to the 1928 house by a squat turret.
Among the conventional signs of wealth favored at the time are an ornate limestone portal; an airy foyer with a grand staircase, crystal chandeliers, and a marble checkerboard floor; and a walnut-paneled living room with hand-carved garlands, a black marble hearth, and generous French windows. These contrast with a garden room, rustically appointed with brick walls, a tile floor, and a cypress-beamed ceiling. In the 1932 addition, a grand library features not only oak pocket doors, enclosed bookcases, and a huge fireplace, but also a view of Lac LaBelle. The Bakers followed fashion in having a basement party room (called the “Zebra Room” for its jungle-scene murals) and a frescoed oval breakfast room. The marbled bathroom, with gold plumbing and a marine motif, included a special bathtub for Marjorie’s dog.
In 1962, Knollward was converted into a retirement home, and a final two-story wing was added to the north. In the 1990s, new owners moved in and restored Knollward to its 1920s splendor. |
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