Photo by Tim Engstrom Author Claire Graham sits on the steps of her home on Lake View Boulevard in Albert Lea. Click on an image below to view it larger

This lakefront Craftsman home was fit for the president of Albert Lea College of Women back in 1900. Today, a local author maintains the home's historic integrity.

Freeborn County Courthouse records indicate Charles and Elizabeth Augur purchased land on Oct. 23, 1900, and then built a house. According to his obituary, Charles Augur died March 12, 1931. He was a Presbyterian minister in several Minnesota communities, was involved in real estate as secretary of Mexican-American Land & Colonization and was president of Albert Lea College around 1900.

It is recorded that in 1919 Alfred Christopherson, founder of Albert Lea's First National Bank, paid Augur one dollar for the home. No information is provided to explain the low price. The Augurs moved to Minneapolis in 1921.

Celebrating their 150th anniversary in 2006 gave Albert Leans a sense of the activities and history of the crossroads community, which includes historic buildings. During the last decade, Albert Lea has torn down landmarks such as Fountain Lake bandshell, a grocery warehouse and the old high school. It is renovating the Freeborn National Bank building.

What is probably less known is the preservation of what's called Craftsman houses, some built over a hundred years ago. Construction of these houses was possible because Albert Lea's railroad crossroads meant access in all directions to the metropolitan areas with skilled artisans, innovative architects and supplies needed for Craftsman-quality homes.

Lakeview Boulevard is graced with a curving row of numerous unique homes from the turn of the 20th century, reflecting the Arts and Crafts architectural movement. Joan Claire Graham, author and publisher of the "Minnesota Memories" book series, owns the stately stucco home that Augur built. Graham chose to leave the East Coast, big-city lifestyle and return to her birthplace "to get out of the rat race and still be able to be close to a larger community to feed my soul with the metropolitan culture," she said. Becoming a vital part of the hometown community includes owning and preserving a Craftsman home. Graham is versed not only in the roots of the Arts and Crafts movement but also some history of her own home.

The Arts and Crafts architecture movement started in England as a backlash to industrialization, which created a lot of mass production and simplification in the housing industry.ÊThrough the movement, the craftsmen and artisans wanted to show the importance of quality products produced on an individual basis. It was offered as an alternative to the earlier Queen Victorian style of ornate and superfluous decoration and was more reflective of the Asian culture and its impact on Western culture. Midwest architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) was a leader in this movement of modern building design.

Craftsman homes were an American offshoot of England's Arts and Crafts movement. They were popular across America in the late 19th century and early 20th century. What's interesting is that in America they started to mass produce it again but in the individualized manner. One example is that kits for homes were sold in the Sears & Roebuck catalog.

The Graham home was not from the catalog. It reflects the original Craftsman architectural integrity with a presence of clarity and simplicity. With a long setback on the pie-shaped property, its earth tone colors fold into the gentle sloping landscape. With a squirrel-friendly ancient oak and well placed plantings, the outside environment blends smoothly into the home exterior, as well as the interior. The house just looks and feels grounded. The front foyer and glassed-in porch invite visitors to come in with calmness, and as Graham said, "reflect the character of the whole house – bringing the outside to the inside environment. You are able to see the lake from every room in the house, and it is obviously very well thought out. The sleeping porch upstairs has windows on three sides, and in addition to providing a lake view, it was planned for ideal ventilation at a time before air-conditioning."

The Craftsman architectural features are evident everywhere. Finished oak hardwood floors, even in the updated kitchen, create a feeling of warmth, enhanced by quarter-cut oak woodwork carried into columns and beamed ceilings in the living and dining room areas. Cutting across the wood grain created a noteworthy pattern, a subtle metaphor for going against the grain tendencies of the Arts and Crafts movement beginnings. Only with railroads crossing Albert Lea's path could high-quality resources – such as special-cut hardwood, leaded and stained glass for decorative windows, chandeliers and rich-colored bricks – arrive to fulfill the requirements of noteworthy architects, also imported, who went against the grain of the Victorian Age.

Graham said she has always been drawn to Craftsman-style homes, even though some of her family members prefer carpeting, painted wood and everything on one story, which was considered the modern look after World War II. Graham noted that when the soldiers returned, many never dreamed they'd be able to afford their own homes, and with the baby boom the neighborhoods became all alike to provide affordable housing at a rapid pace. These more energy efficient two- and three-bedroom ramblers had one picture window, but fewer and smaller windows and were all basically one-floor designs. "I like being able to challenge my body by climbing stairs on a daily basis and I like lots of wood and windows," Graham said.

The third-floor suite has a bedroom, large walk-in closet and bath that serves frequent guests who comment that it is a nice place to sleep and relax. The second floor includes the office for her home business, a master bedroom overlooking Fountain Lake, another guest bedroom and the sleeping porch, as well as a full bath. Bookshelf storage occupies the landing to the maid's stairwell. It was once a maid's quarters. The staircase proceeds down into the kitchen, where there are glass-door cupboards that blend in with the original dining room built-in buffet.

Graham said she didn't have to do any decorating or renovating when she moved in. She thinks it is fortunate the previous owners respected the quality and nature of the house when they remodeled the third floor attic, first-floor bathroom and the kitchen, which, as Graham said, "don't look like they belong to a different house." She likes the first-floor shower because it provides moisture in the winter. Original cast-iron radiators are still found throughout the home and supplemented by an electric heating system and forced air for the third-floor suite. A gold antique non-functioning hot-water reservoir stands on a platform above the maid's staircase. Original hex and subway tiles are preserved in the second-story bathroom along with the cast-iron plumbing from 1900. A chain-pull toilet was a part of the plumbing until recently.

One problem related to owning a Craftsman house is the built-in Yankee gutters that deteriorated and now collect water. The handyman even contacted the Twin Cities Bungalow Club about the design, which helped Graham determine that the pitch was not sufficient to take standing water into the downspout. "These are the things that you don't even think about," Graham said, "and you have to decide what you can afford."

It is evident Graham is committed to preserving a hometown house that reflects an era of innovative architecture in Southern Minnesota. "The fact that Albert Lea was entertaining such forward-thinking ideas that went against the trends at that time speaks for the sophistication of local tastes," Graham said.