By Barb Howell | Photography by Shanna Wolf
Successful entrepreneurs and business owners, Thomas and Kathy George have many things in common: creativity, ingenuity, a solid design sense and five thriving retail operations in Lake Geneva and Highland Park, Illinois, among them E. Street Denim, Bloomingbyrds and Brick & Mortar Home & Outdoor.
By Shayna Mace | Photography by Shanna Wolf
Cathy Ostrom has seen properties all over the city as a realtor with First Weber, and has a discriminating eye. So she knew when a property went up for sale in the Middleton Beach neighborhood, she had to snap it up.
By Shayna Mace | Photography by Shanna Wolf
Keven Schmidt calls it the “million-dollar walk.”
He and his wife Terri were taking a stroll along Lake Monona in the Frost Woods neighborhood and spotted an open house. Intrigued, they stopped in to take a peek at the 700-square-foot home built in 1949.
By Barb Howell | Photography by Shanna Wolf
When Don and Lori Lyon started thinking about building a home on their family’s property on Green Lake, one of the lakes in the Lauderdale chain, their first concern was how to respect the past. Since the early 1950s Don’s grandparents and then parents lived on this slice of land, and to build a more functional, new home would require Don and Lori to tear down the place where the family had gathered for years — and in essence — erase a half century of memories.
By Barb Howell | Photography by Shanna Wolf
On the north shore of Geneva Lake stands a shinglestyle home that is so strikingly blue that on a sunsplashed day, with the lake’s water shimmering before it, one has the feeling that these blissful surroundings just might be heaven.
By Anne Morrissy | Exterior Photography by Clint Farlinger, Interior Photography by Shanna Wolf
In 2000, when Linda and Kurt Stier bought the lakefront property on Geneva Lake where their home now stands, they knew they would face some challenges in building their dream home. First, there was the question of the house that already stood on the property, which was ultimately burned down to make way for their Italianate villa.
By Shayna Mace | Photography by Shanna Wolf
When guests drive up to Hans and Marijo Weissgerber’s Oconomowoc Lake home, they’re greeted by a sunny yellow manor with Spanish-tiled roof, decorative archway detail and show stopping carved Phillippine mahogany door.
By Becky Peck | Photographed by Shanna Wolf
Looking out a window and not seeing water wouldn’t feel natural to Joe McCormick. The Madison-born real estate developer and builder has lived most of his life on or near Lake Mendota. And when he’s not home, you can often find McCormick and his fiancée, Jane Carroll, sailing during summers in Madison or Door County, and in the winter, the Caribbean.
By Shayna Mace | Photography by Shanna Wolf
If you’ve ever seen “Gone With the Wind,” the image of Tara, the plantation home in the film, evokes a grand, stately presence. The Midwest’s own version of Tara sits right on Oconomowoc Lake on 100 feet of lake frontage and is owned by Debi and Jim Schneider, who purchased the property in 2005.
