Article in Log Home Living, April 1998



Building a New Tradition in Wisconsin


Wisconsin’s love of lake retreats is legendary, but a log home handcrafted by Alpine Log Homes and built by Dan Benson stands out from the other lake houses.

The 5,000-square foot home is set on an indigenously landscaped site. “It has the look and feel of the old, classical Northwoods camps, just larger than most,” Dan says. Designing a lake house always offers the opportunity for rich interplay between house and setting, a concept fully realized here.


The style and materials used, including the hand-hewn logs and stone, make the most of a traditional genre. One big difference between this home and those of old are the expanses of glass. The home’s windows bathe the interior with light.

Offset roof lines, dormers and extensions animate the exterior and create interesting interior spaces. Working closely as a team, Alpine Log Homes and Dan created a home that makes the most of indoor and outdoor areas, from the wrap around porch to the spacious and comfortable great room that was designed to be the major entertaining room and family gathering spot.

While some great rooms are more style than substance, this great room is large but comfortable, with chairs that can be pulled up for various seating groups.

True to style, the flat ceiling of the 10-foot-high great room is rendered in a pattern of log beams and inlaid smaller saplings. The great room is also the center of light and sight. Unobstructed views cross paths through this space. A line of sight begins with the front door, straight through the foyer, across the fern-filled yard to the lake shore.


The home’s kitchen is also noteworthy. “The core of every house, it seems, is the kitchen. Everyone ends up there,” says Scott Pickles, manager of Alpine’s design group. “This well planned kitchen makes everyone feel at home,” he continues. “In the design of the floor plan, we wanted the kitchen to relate to the great room and dining area and be open and yet around the corner.”

The sizable kitchen relies on custom cabinetry in a forest green finish to set a refined but slightly rustic tone. “One of the great things about today’s appliances, Sub-Zero’s refrigerator units and drawers for example, is how they integrate into the cabinetry,” Scott says. Between the log ceiling beams, the inset of intricately fit saplings adds visual interest. White plaster ceilings keep the area bright.

Because the kitchen is an essential ingredient in lake living and entertaining, it and the adjoining dining room have a panoramic view of the shoreline through a wall of windows and through the screened porch. The weather usually determines if dinner will be served at the dining table or on the open-air porch. Whatever the climate, meals are always casual here.

The commanding front entrance contains the foyer on the main level and a reading alcove above. To keep the foyer open, the log stairway with its Adirondack-styled twig railings is set off to the side of the hall. In addition to the reading loft at the top of the stairs, there are three bedrooms on the second floor. Reminiscent of many historic homes, a rear stairway leads down to the laundry room and the kitchen.

The master bedroom is a spacious retreat, a home within a home, with extra square footage and a private balcony. The master bath is outfitted with double vanities, a separate dressing area, spacious shower stall and a whirlpool tub.

Once the design of the home was finalized, the crews at Alpine set to work, cutting and notching logs for the home’s walls and roof systems. As with all handcrafted log homes, this home’s logs were first cut and stacked in the logyard, then numbered and disassembled for shipment to the home site.


“The final perception is one of quality,” Dan says. “From the meticulous handcrafting of the logs to the best finishing materials available, we tried to create a home that the family, Alpine and Benson Builders were extremely proud of.”