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Rendulich Photography
Honey, I Bought a Home
Mitch and Darlene Wolfe have invested nearly four years into restoring their beautiful historic home.
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Rendulich Photography
Honey, I Bought a Home
The brick house was built in 1912.
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Rendulich Photography
Honey, I Bought a Home
From the front entryway of the Wolfes’ home, an airy sunroom beckons with new windows at regular and transom heights.
Darlene Wolfe first met the inside of her new Duluth home after her husband, Mitchell, made an offer and they’d already bought it.
The 1912 historic house made a big impression on her sense of style.
“I don’t know what he was thinking. It was a mess.”
“It has good bones,” counters Mitch. It also has an intriguing history. The house was designed by architect Anthony Puck, a Norwegian immigrant who came to Duluth in 1887 and designed several buildings, including the church at 1802 East First Street that’s now home to the Duluth-Superior Quaker Meeting.
Puck designed the 1912 home for John Rutherford McGiffert, his wife, Gertrude, and their five children. McGiffert, who came to Duluth to practice law, was also an executive in Clyde Iron Works and a mechanical engineer, according to a 1921 history of Duluth and St. Louis County by Dwight Woodbridge and John Pardee. He patented the McGiffert Log Loader, used worldwide by railroads to self-load logging cars. One is displayed in the Lake Superior Railroad Museum at The Depot in Duluth.
While the history of the place and its people fascinates Mitch, Darlene felt the present-day structure needed a serious makeover, especially an interior mix that lingered in the 1950s and ’60s. Luckily for Darlene and Mitch, there would be a few years to remodel before they’d move into the home.
The California couple had been considering a move to Duluth for a number of years after coming to the city to visit Mitch’s Merrill Lynch partner, who has a home in the city. They vacationed in Duluth during a few summers after that and decided it had advantages over California, not the least of which was stress-free commuting versus being tied up on packed six-lane freeways.
“I like the small community feel,” says Mitch. “I love the Lake, and I like the four seasons.”
“I thought it was picturesque and serene,” Darlene says of her first impressions of Duluth. “The Lake is magical, really.”
On one summer trip, they looked at a house for sale that they did not like, but the real estate agent knew of another coming on the market – the home built for the McGifferts. At the time, Mitch and Darlene could only peek at the outside. Later, Mitch would return for an inside tour. That’s when he made the offer. They bought the house in 2005.
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Andrea Rugg / Courtesy CF Design
Honey, I Bought a Home
The kitchen makeover was the most challenging.
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Andrea Rugg / Courtesy CF Design
Honey, I Bought a Home
Lighted cabinets near the ceiling and light fixtures from Italy warm the room.
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Andrea Rugg / Courtesy CF Design
Honey, I Bought a Home
Today thicker walls allow space for window seats and wall-flush appliances like a double oven and inset windows with counter space. An island features a stovetop.
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Konnie LeMay
Honey, I Bought a Home
Perfect accents can be found throughout...
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Konnie LeMay
Honey, I Bought a Home
... even with the dogs’ water dish in the side entryway off to the kitchen.
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Wolfe Collection
Honey, I Bought a Home
The renovated area kept the same footprint as the old kitchen (seen here).
Darlene’s strong sense of how a home interior should look comes from solid knowledge of what does work. She studied interior design at the Art Institute in Southern California, often astounding her professors with her fresh vision and unlikely pairings. “My teachers were always telling me, ‘How did you ever think of this? This is not supposed to work, but it does.’”
The dining room presents a good example of unusual blending that simply works. A Hudson Valley-themed pastel mural by local artist Brian Olson is paired with a ragged-off ceiling and a large Old Masters- style still life. The whole ensemble, along with a feathered chandelier and a marble fireplace, creates a warm atmosphere for dining.
So if any couple was up to the challenge of reclaiming this old house and modernizing it while retaining its original charm, the Wolfes were.
Thus began long-distance remodeling and renewal, something Mitch admits he would not attempt again. “I just wanted the house to be resurrected.”
The first three years of their ownership, they rented the home to a family from Utah who moved to Duluth so their children could play hockey (another hockey tie). During that time, the Wolfes had a garage built; the home did not have one.
In 2009, after the renters left, the real work began. The couple replaced or repaired the electrical and plumbing systems. Almost all of the mahogany woodwork, painted white, was stripped and restored. Professional painters did much of the work, but Mitch tackled stripping some banisters and doors and brass hardware handles. Nearly every window in the home – 55 so far – has been replaced with energy efficient Marvin windows. Five of the home’s nine fireplaces have been refitted for gas.
The third floor of the three-story home was a series of small rooms for the McGiffert’s many children, Mitch speculates. Renovation began here on the master suite that they could use on visits while other work was completed. The separate third-floor rooms were made into a master bath with his-and-hers sinks, a glassed-in shower and an old-style claw-foot tub, a walk-in closet and a large sitting room, now with two fireplaces and large television. They took out a wall and made two rooms into a combination bedroom-sitting area. They kept most of the house’s original space.
On the second floor, which also has a series of modest-sized rooms, the Wolfes removed the 1960s-era carpet and discovered a restored hardwood floor. On this floor, they created a den for Mitch, a craft room for Darlene, a guest room and full bathroom. A laundry, with washer, dryer and staging counter, takes up a compact space at the end of one hall, making for convenient laundry days.
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Rendulich Photography
Honey, I Bought a House
Darlene Wolfe’s style shines in the remodeled rooms, as seen in these before and after shots. Today the dining room features a mural by local artist Brian Olson and a “ragged off” painted ceiling using a metallic base and oil stain.
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Wolfe Collection
Honey, I Bought a House
Once it had mainly white walls.
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Rendulich Photography
Honey, I Bought a House
The remodeled library exudes an elegant yet cozy feel with the mahogany woodwork liberated from white paint and the walls a lighter color.
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Wolfe Collection
Honey, I Bought a House
Before the new work.
While the renovations continued, the Wolfes remained full-time in California. The Duluth contractor would send images and updates weekly, with Darlene adding her input via phone or email. She directed color palettes – mostly light, calming tones that replace dark walls and that echo well with the newly revealed rich mahogany woodwork.
“I really had to think about each room. … I did pretty good until I got to the kitchen,” Darlene says.
The kitchen also was flanked by staircases directly outside and directly up to what would have been the maid’s room. Despite all her interior design skills, Darlene could not envision the awkward room becoming a comfortable kitchen that would accommodate the entertaining she enjoyed. “I needed an architect. That’s when I met Cheryl.”
Rendulich Photography
Honey, I Bought a House
This ingenious ice-box invention by the original owner, J.R. McGiffert, uses the house’s cold water pipes to chill the box’s interior. Today it holds wine.
Enter Cheryl Fosdick, owner of CF Design, who also got a strong first impression of the kitchen space: “It really was atrocious … the worst room in the home. The room was small, and it had a weird peninsula. It was very bad 1950s.”
Cheryl saw what Darlene had accomplished with the rest of the house. Except for parts of the basement, the kitchen was the final room to renovate. “There was the biggest contrast between the kitchen and the rest of the building,” Cheryl recalls. “This was a maid’s kitchen and not a contemporary kitchen.”
As a “maid’s kitchen,” the room focused on utility, not pleasurable use and gathering of company that constitutes today’s modern kitchens.
“Sooner or later, you’re going to be entertaining people in the kitchen,” Cheryl says. So her task would be to add better work space, places for modern appliances, an area for eating and chatting without increasing the kitchen’s footprint.
Cheryl’s solution: Thicker walls. “The implication is the room is much smaller, but it’s bigger.”
Thicker walls created space for window seats and embedding of modern appliances into the wall. They closed off the stairway to upstairs, gaining cabinet space in the kitchen and more laundry space upstairs. Cheryl put the kitchen island to work as a stovetop as well as countertop. There’s also in-floor heating.
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Konnie LeMay
Honey, I Bought a House
A photo of the Wolfes’ corgis, Cooper and Olive, became subjects in Brian Olson’s mural by the main stairway.
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Konnie LeMay
Honey, I Bought a House
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Konnie LeMay
Honey, I Bought a House
Cheryl’s design flows from the kitchen into a side entryway and out onto a new patio area with a raised garden. That outside space, originally designated for a pergola with planted piers, proved to be a challenge when a pit for old firewood was discovered. There was decayed wood at least 20 feet deep, Cheryl says.
The alternative was to fill it in and create a brick patio atop it. This outdoor room now flows naturally onto a lower level wrap-around deck made of beautiful bluestone.
The Wolfes enjoyed working with Cheryl, and also mentioned good experiences in working with Nick Dinehery of Dinehery Fence and Ironworks. Nick created a wooden privacy fence around two sides of the yard, essentially leaving an open space with the next-door neighbor. Daryl Bruckelmyer of B&H Masonry proved invaluable for the inside and outside masonry work.
A bit of garden work and walkway redo remains for the outside. Inside, the basement, which has a work room and Pilates exercise room, also needs some tweaks, the couple says. Still, the entire home restoration is nearly complete.
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Rendulich Photography
Honey, I Bought a House
The outside brick patio area flows naturally from the remodeled kitchen.
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Rendulich Photography
Honey, I Bought a House
The third-floor master suite is a true haven with a large bathroom that includes a claw-foot.
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Rendulich Photography
Honey, I Bought a House
The master bedroom.
The couple moved to Duluth in 2012, being on site only for the kitchen remodeling as a major renovation.
Since moving here, they’ve met McGiffert’s granddaughter, Terri Roberts, at the Kitchi Gami Club. They’ve also taken up ballroom dancing, even performing at the Superior Ballroom Dance Studio’s Fall Masquerade at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.
The couple visits California, but many California friends, as well as their two daughters’ families, frequently visit Duluth. “It’s a lot of home for two people,” Darlene says, “but it never seems too big.”
Looking at the lovely spaces, Darlene and Mitch can be satisfied that they’ve created a masterwork.
One might think Darlene’s ready simply to enjoy the results, but ever creative, Darlene admits, “After doing it, I think I could do another one.”