Granot Loma: In Depth

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES LODGE ON LAKE SUPERIOR WITH 7.75 SQ. MILES OF LAND, 3.64 MILES OF FRONTAGE, AND A 50-ROOM LODGE NEAR MARQUETTE

LOCATION

Lake Superior's shore 14 miles north of Marquette, the Upper Peninsula's largest city with regional jet airport, regional seaport, regional hospital, Northern Michigan University and the Huron Mountains. 60% of the opulation of the United States is within a day's drive. This area has received national awards for quality of life, community, and the arts. By jet Chicago is 325 miles to the south, Detroit 362 miles to the southeast, Minneapolis 300 miles to the southwest.

PROPERTY

5,000 acres (4,970 on the County records) with about 19,000 feet of Lake Superior shoreline, roughly 5,800 feet of it fine sand beach. The property is 80% forested with timber lands managed for high quality hardwood production. Typical hardwood stands are primarily hard maple and yellow birch, with stands of hemlock, white pine and a variety of softwoods including aspen, white birch, cedar, balsam and spruce. Topography makes for interesting land, and here high ridges, hills and rocky outcroppings frame and dot the land.

Garlic Mountain rises 320 feet directly behind the Lodge with commanding 180-degree views over Lake Superior. To the west the property is equally impressive and extends to hills and mountain ridges as far as the eye can see. There are miles of frontage on two trout streams, the Little Garlic and Big Garlic, which run through the property. The former is a nationally known steelhead trout stream; the latter is a productive trout stream as well but less known because so much of it lies within the boundaries of this protected estate.

A County maintained gravel road winds from the paved county road through diverse forests and granite outcropping to the private road that descends through old growth hardwoods to the lodge. At lodge level the driveway and parking areas are paved and lighted. An automatic gate protects access to the private road that leads to the landscaped courtyard of interlocking brick and central fountain as you arrive at the lodge. Two gravel pits on the property supply gravel for the maintenance of the roads, trails and the abandoned railroad line that bisects the property and serves as the access to blinds for deer, bear and wildlife viewing. You will see moose, coyote, and if you are lucky, a wolf. There is a concrete breakwater enclosing a small artificial harbor on the east side of the lodge, a tennis court, and trails through the property.

Granot Loma is similar to but is in important ways different from the great Adirondack camps of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Importantly it is larger and was better constructed and has now been renovated and upgraded in important ways. For example, the kitchen was designed after the one in the White House. Loma Farms, a third of a mile from the lodge, is a complex of thirteen buildings that were planned as a model farm complex.

In addition to the lodge, the property has two residences, a pool house, 20' x 40' swimming pool, dairy barn, 12-stall vehicle garage, 7-stall equipment garage, piggery, and 6 other buildings. Many of these have extensive fittings and details of historical significance. The water supply comes directly from Lake Superior via a pipeline and mountaintop storage tank that provides water and water pressure throughout the property. Except for of a few of the outbuildings, the buildings are finished on the exterior with glazed bricks. The Farm complex utilizes 200 acres of cleared land for hay and grain crops and there is an orchard of 70 fruit trees, grape vines, and a vegetable garden.

HIGH SPEED INTERNET

Granot Loma uses a "T1" Internet connection, a high-speed digital telephone line that transfers signals at 1.544Mbps and accommodates up to 24 telephone lines or trunks. A T1 line can be used in place of separate local trunks and lines from the local telephone company. It also has the ability to bypass your local telephone company and connect directly to your long distance service provider. With a wireless connection this service is available anywhere on the property. Any and all up to date connections are available and if even faster T2 or T3 Internet connections or phone systems are desired an upgrade can be accomplished in a matter of hours.

LODGE

Construction on the lodge was begun in 1919 and finished four years later in 1923. It's 26,000 sq. ft. of living space has 50 rooms, 26 bedrooms and 15 baths in an imposing structure built on a steel frame, concrete and log construction, log walls, random width oak flooring and a slate roof. The foundation is steel reinforced, poured concrete ranging from 12 inches thick to a respect-for-the-lake six feet thick on the lakeside. The logs used in its construction were individually selected, peeled, wrapped and shipped to the property where they were hand-rubbed to a satin finish. Some rooms are papered with cedar and birch bark. The hallway of the South Wing is constructed of highly irregular peeled logs, fitted perfectly to one another. There are 30 fireplaces, all of unique design. The doors are all hand-made and fit with virtually zero clearance without sticking or binding.

Water is pumped out of the lake into a 70,000-gallon holding tank on the mountain above the farmland, giving 95 pounds of pressure by gravity feed. A fire system throughout the building utilizes 2-inch pipe and standard canvas fire hoses in all areas of the building. The heating plant is an up to date propane-fired steam system with 2 million BTU, a multistage furnace, a 2 million BTU commercial kitchen make-up air unit, and a 260,000 BTU water heater. An external wood burning system heats domestic hot water. Propane tanks store up to 17,000 gallons for heating and also feed a 20kw propane-fired, back-up generator. There are two 12,000-gallon and one 5,000-gallon underground gas tanks at the lodge and a 500-gallon underground diesel fuel tank at the farm complex. The property is serviced by electric and phone lines and utilizes septic systems. There is T1 high speed Internet service throughout the property.

The furnishings are rustic in design, much of it designed and constructed for the lodge from local materials such as pine, cedar, oak, woven cedar bark, gnarled white pine, saplings, roots and logs. There are also many newer upholstered items and draperies. George Gershwin selected the grand piano and played for dinner guests. The Kaufman children painted the piano! The floors are sanded and refinished and some exterior logs have been replaced and seamlessly refinished.

The architects of the lodge were Marshall and Fox of Chicago. Local expert log builder Nestor Kallionin is believed to have worked on the log construction between 1924 and 1927 as well as some of the rustic stick furniture in the lodge. The Loma Farms complex was constructed in 1927 by the Bartlett Construction Company of Eau Claire, Wisconsin with many designs provided by the Architectural Department of the Louden Machinery Complex of Fairfield, Iowa.

First Floor

The Great Room is 23' x 62 1/2' with an open-beamed ceiling 24' high. A fieldstone fireplace measuring 24' from end to end of the hearth with a stone bench to one side was built large enough for men to carry in 4' logs. Walls of plate glass windows face the lake. Windows can be lowered into the walls to make the room almost completely open to the summer breezes off the lake. A massive chandelier made of the root system of a pine tree and wired and fitted with bulbs dominates the room, and chandeliers on either side are fitted with Austrian crystals. At either end of the Great Room are identical lower wings serving as the Dining Room and Game Room/Library, each 23' x 39'. Both have oak floor of 2" x 8" planks, fireplaces, and walls of windows overlooking the lake.

The North Wing contains the Kitchen and Pantry with terrazzo floors and tile walls. The kitchen has in brief, a rotisserie, pizza oven, smoker oven, deep fryer and walk-in cooler. Kitchen equipment is commercial grade stainless with a layout modeled after The White House kitchen. 8 Guest Rooms and 5 baths occupy the Southwest Wing, all with Douglas fir flooring, log walls, stone fireplace and wood or log ceilings. The smaller Southeast Wing is 45' x 12' with a Den/Bar, tepee-shaped fireplace, spectacular views and a small poker room where big money surely changed hands over the years! Off the main hall and overlooking the harbor a new 7' x 12' hot tub/whirlpool finished in Lake Superior stones commands a spectacular long view of beaches, points and islands to the south, all of it on the property.

Second Floor:

The North Wing is 37' x 22' and has 5 Guest Bedrooms with 3 Baths. The Southwest Wing is 123' x 25' and contains 12 Guest Bedrooms with 5 Baths. The 26 bedrooms are generally paired with a common bath, however some of the larger suites have private baths. Second floor hallways in the North and Southwest Wings end in balconies opening to the 2-story Great Room. The second floor of the Southeast Wing, 42' x 25', contains the Master Bedroom Suite consisting of bedroom, sitting room and bath. It is finished in white birch. Some of the walls are woven birch bark, and others are made of small birch half-logs arranged in a mosaic. The tub in the Master Bath is set in a wall of Lake Superior stones, framed by white birch. The fireplace in the suite has a window where normally one would expect a painting placed as an overmantel. Ever-changing natural scenes and a flow of light are positioned as a work of art.

Basement:

The central area under the Great Room is used as a boathouse. It is accessible from the artificial harbor created by a concrete breakwater. The basement also includes "his and her's" wine cellars, marble steam rooms and showers.

GUEST HOUSE: 24' x 70' log construction with a slate roof. This 1-story cabin has 8 rooms, 4 baths, and 4 fireplaces.

SERVANTS' QUARTERS: 30' x 90' of log construction with slate roof, this structure has 3 living rooms downstairs and 14 bedrooms and 3 baths on the second floor.

GARAGE: 111' X 13'. Log construction with concrete floor. This building has 9 stalls.

PLAYHOUSE: 13' x 13' log construction with a cobblestone fireplace. Built on a small scale, this structure was designed and sized for children.

FARM MANAGER'S RESIDENCE: 48' x 24' with single-story rear addition of 966 sq. ft. totaling 3,270 sq. ft. of living space. It is heated by bottled gas with a hot water system. The first floor contains a large living room, dining room, sitting room, kitchen, bath, and 2 bedrooms. The upstairs has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. A basement has a partially finished room, laundry room and two storage rooms.

CARETAKER'S HOUSE: 24' X 48', 2,304 sq. ft. total. The first floor has a large kitchen, pantry, living room, and large front porch running the width of the building and enclosed rear entry. The second floor has 3 bedrooms and a bath.

POOL HOUSE: 28' X 50' located between the two homes, this structure includes a large foyer, sitting room, shower room, kitchen, bedroom, bath and pool heating center. Many of the rooms have walls of glazed tile.

U-SHAPED DAIRY BARN: The main section is 38' x 150' with three 30' x 46' wings. There are 2 silos 14' in diameter. The first floor has glazed white tile walls, poured concrete floors, and concrete water and feed troughs. The West Wing has 15 stalls, the east wing 8 stalls, and the central portion has 52 dairy stanchions. All the stalls and stanchions have cork-lined floors. A toilet and shower are also located on this floor. The second floor is a single room for hay storage with overhead hay trolley and rear entrance at grade level. The building is structurally sound.

OUTBUILDINGS: Piggery, manure house, slaughterhouse, icehouse, all are 1-story with glazed brick exteriors, asphalt shingle roofs and concrete slab floors except the icehouse, which has sawdust covering. There are two garages, one of which is glazed brick, and other frame buildings.

HEATING: $20,000.

TAXES: Currently $52,000+/-, based on the Taxable Value of a property held for 20 years, at Homestead rates.

SEV: 2009 = $6,218,300

Millage, Powell Twsp: 38.3039 or 20.3029 Homestead.

Millage, Marquette Twsp: 42.9636 or 24.9636 Homestead.

Marquette area awards and national recognition:

In recent years the Marquette area has received many national awards including recognition as one of ten national "All-America" awards.

Outdoor Life Magazine named the city of Marquette as number seven of the 200 Best Places to Live nationally. The magazine annually ranks the top towns for hunters and anglers to live.

The Weather Channel named the Upper Peninsula a Top 10 Winter Family Getaway.

America's Promise Alliance named Marquette among the "100 Best Communities for Young People" for the third year in a row!

Sherman's Travel named Michigan's Upper Peninsula one of the Top Ten Global Summer Vacation Destinations.

Men's Journal, named the Upper Peninsula one of the Best Places to Buy Vacation Property.

Author John Villani named Marquette one of America's 100 Best Art Towns in 2005.

Bike Magazine rated Marquette in the top five Best Places to Mountain Bike in the country.