My grandmother was not necessarily a memorable fashionista. The was too old by the time I was old enough to recognize style, and by then I recognized that she veered towards the loud, and the sparkly. She wore bright red lipstick often, and later in life she would generously apply it in the general area of her very old lips. She was a lovely woman, but she was not a style maker. This is why it was curious that her favorite house on the lake was the understated Pikewood Estate on Pebble Point.
Pier 162 was never the loudest house on the lake. In fact, it looked under built compared to the behemoths both of very old and of very recent. The house was built in 1923 for the family of a barbed wire magnate, which, coincidentally enough is something that I’ll be buying a lot of in the coming years (see here). Later, it was owned by the well known Goes family, of Chicago. It was a classic home, perched confidently in the deep woods of pebble point, with 181′ of level frontage and a view to Black Point, Majestic, and beyond. It was a fantastic house, one that my grandmother admitted often was her favorite house on the lake.
The site, all 181 level feet, all four wooded acres, rests just to the East of Pebble Point. On one side, the magnificent home that is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famed Falling Waters , on the other, an incredibly beautiful dutch colonial that was built just a few years ago. Behind, off the lake, a huge tract of deep woods where a conservation project is underway to restore those woods to their natural glory. This site is insulated from some of the things that plague other sites. High density nearby, there’s none of that. Associations within ear shot, of course not. Just beautiful land that has been remarkably improved over recent years. And by now you’ve guessed it, Pikewood is for sale.
But it hasn’t been without much deliberation. The owner purchased this property years ago with the intent of building his lakefront masterpiece. That is why the impeccable landscaping was done. The bridges were built of stone by meticulous masons. The site designs were completed, the engineering done. Permits were applied for and received, irrigation was installed. Landscape lighting, too. The septic field was installed, subtly, out of the way, where it needed to go. Trees were cleared, and the stream were cleaned. This is a site that has been the subject of intensive work, and now that the work is done, it’s time for someone to build a home here.