Passion for a Frank Lloyd Wright Building Restoration
Audrey Laatsch had immense passion when it came to restoring the last and smallest of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wisconsin design buildings. Wright designed an 880-square-foot cottage on Mirror Lake for Seth Peterson in 1958 at an estimated $15,000. Construction started in 1959 but was not completed before both Wright and Peterson died. The property was purchased by Mrs. Lillian Owen Pritchard Sr. and her son, Owen Jr., from Milwaukee in 1962; she had the project completed as Wright designed it.
Owen Jr. lived in the cottage and raised Afghan hounds. In 1966, the State of Wisconsin purchased it for $35,000 to add to the new Mirror Lake State Park. Other purchased cottages were razed, and the sites returned to nature. But the Seth Peterson Cottage was boarded up and stood empty, suffering the ravages of weather and vandalism for more than two decades.
As the story goes, Audrey, a therapist from Milwaukee, overturned her canoe on Mirror Lake. Swimming to shore after the capsize, Audrey found the cottage.
The Seth Peterson cottage was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 1981. The nomination noted the cottage was in “seriously deteriorated condition having received no appreciable maintenance for years. Though the DNR is currently updating its Mirror Lake State Park master plan, it has made no determination as to the future prospects for this cottage, the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building owned by the State of Wisconsin.”
Already owning property on Mirror Lake, as a member of the Mirror Lake Association, Audrey was determined to restore the Seth Peterson Cottage. She called a meeting in Wisconsin Dells in February 1989 to find support for the restoration. Given the snowy weather, there was an expectation that turnout would be low, around 5 to 10 people, but because many people had seen a newspaper article about the cottage and wanted to know what could be done to save it, the number who showed up was tenfold.
According to Kermit Traska, current president of the Seth Peterson Cottage Conservancy (SPCC)—the group that restored the cottage—and former DNR employee who presented at the meeting, attendees included many Frank Lloyd Wright groupies with a passion for saving one of his masterpieces. Restoration of the cottage, a fine example of Wright’s Usonian design, was recommended by Wisconsin Historical Society staff, but the estimate for doing so was $120,000 to $150,000, not within the DNR’s budget.
The SPCC was founded by Audrey and others from the Mirror Lake Association to take on the project. John Eifler, a Chicago architect who had attended the February meeting, was hired to direct the restoration. He had helped restore the first Jacobs House, a Wright design, in Madison.
“The Seth Peterson Cottage was more of a wreck than the Jacobs House, but I could see that the restoration would turn out great,” John recalls. “The first day, the volunteers and I took off the plywood and made a fire in the cottage’s fireplace. We smoked out the place, but it was rewarding to get light and air into the cottage once again.”
John remembers Audrey, who passed away in 2002, as a “visionary—patient and confident. She was relentless in raising money. If at first she got a no, she would keep calling until the prospective donor said yes.” In the end, the restoration totaled $300,000.
Bill Martinelli from Madison also attended the February meeting. He had an architecture and engineering background, was interested in Frank Lloyd Wright, and knew about the cottage. He had even climbed the surrounding chain-link fence to take pictures. Audrey recruited him immediately to help. “I have to give so much credit to Audrey. She worked with troubled youth and said if she could be successful with them, she could be successful with the restoration project. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Bill worked closely with John during the restoration as well as behind the scenes with Audrey.
A group that helped with the restoration was Wisconsin Conservation Corps (WCC). John says, “At first, they didn’t trust an architect from Chicago, but I quickly gained their confidence when I told them I was a Racine native. The WCC crew was happy to do the work. They had respect for the building.”
One of the WCC tasks was to take up the flagstone floor and number all the pieces so radiant floor heating could be installed. Audrey had the idea of using the stones as a fundraiser. Donors purchased stones when the floor was replaced, and a map of the floor in the cottage acknowledges those who contributed.
Now that the restoration of the cottage is well behind them, members of the SPCC still volunteer under Bill’s leadership. During the annual Spring Work Week in April, they clean up the landscape, level the driveway, prune bushes, and perform any maintenance that needs to be done. Sometimes, larger projects are worked on, like installing air conditioning, replacing shingles, and refinishing woodwork.
The SPCC has a 15-year renewable lease agreement with the State to rent the cottage to visitors for overnight stays. Due to its popularity, reservations are now being taken for 2025!
In addition to cottage upkeep and maintenance, the SPCC uses thousands of dollars of rental revenue to support other related organizations, including the DNR, Mirror Lake State Park, Friends of Mirror Lake State Park for the naturalist program, and the Mirror Lake Association.
Passion drives volunteers to give in many ways and has driven Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts for more than 30 years to ensure the Seth Peterson Cottage remains one of Wright’s lasting legacies. The cottage is open to the public each month for tours led by volunteers
Jeanne Engle is a freelance writer.
Photographs by Kit Hogan
The Seth Peterson Cottage is open for tours the second Sunday of each month, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., with the last tour beginning at 3:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults; children 12 and under and SPCC members are free.