Architecture

West Winds is the 15-room Tudor style home that houses The Bakken Museum´s collections, built by William E. Goodfellow on the west shore of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Goodfellow worked in a variety of areas including real estate and financial investments, but the sale of the family dry-goods store in 1904 to George Dayton, made him a wealthy man.  His financial situation made possible his travels, and the construction of West Winds. 

Goodfellow built West Winds to woo a woman who accused him of being cheap, but the house did not bring them together.  Goodfellow collaborated with local architect Carl A. Gage, and began construction in 1928, completing the home in 1930, the pinnacle of the so-called Tudor Revival period.  The home combines a number of earlier architectural styles.  The exterior of the building blends the heavy stone construction and arched windows of the Gothic style with wood beam and stucco construction of the Tudor style.  This mix of styles is also seen within the home, including the dark interior paneling and carved details of English Tudor with the pointed arches and stained glass of European Gothic Revival.  Yet its 20th-century origins show clearly in the organization of space and use of modern materials.

One feature of the Gothic revival style was the prominence of decorative elements that reflected the home´s natural environment through representations of local flora and fauna.  Goodfellow commissioned a number of details from craftsmen in Italy, as seen in the intricate woodcarvings in the Great Hall and staircases.

West Winds borrowed from the court style of 16th century England for its ensemble of dark wood interior paneling, open-beamed ceilings, grouped and arched windows and stained glass.  The floor plan reflected Goodfellow´s 20th-century values and personal idiosyncrasies.  He kept his own quarters--a bedroom, study and bath ensemble at the south end of the building--distinctly separate from the very extensive servants´ quarters to the north; he clearly valued closet space, and did not stint on bathrooms--there were eleven in the original plan.

The house and grounds were completely surrounded by an 8-foot wall.  The garden is dominated by a pond, within which is centered a sculpture of Hermes, the Greek messenger of the gods. 

Goodfellow traveled extensively and did not live at West Winds long.  During the 1930s he left the house in the custody of a caretaker. Upon his death in 1944 he bequeathed the house to the Girl Scouts.  They sold the property to Royce Beamish in 1946.  Ownership of West Winds was a long-held dream of his.  He made extensive remodeling to the house, reducing the number of bathrooms from eleven to seven.  In 1953 Beamish sold the house to Richard Cornelius.  

The Cornelius family was the first family with children to live in the house.  Cornelius made extensive restoration work with a team of builders headed by Al Ferber.  Woodwork was re-varnished, broken windows were repaired, ceilings replaced, and pegged floors were pulled up, smoothed and re-pegged.  Cornelius also installed the beautiful Iron Range red tile in the Outer Hall, now the Sunroom.  The Cornelius family lived in the home until 1976, when it was sold to the non-profit Bakken Library and Museum. 

In 1997 the Bakken Library and Museum undertook a major renovation and expansion project, which increased the size of the facility from 13,000 to 25,000 square feet.  Meyer, Scherer, & Rockcastle were the architects, and Mortenson Co. was the general contractor. 

The roof of the new wing, located at the same level as the first floor of the existing building, is planted with grass, and overlooks a new pond and landscaped wetland area, and a new medicinal garden.  The expansion also includes an elevator, on-site parking and improved access/entrances. 

The impetus for the expansion and renovation was to support the Bakken´s commitment to students, teachers, scholars and the general public, with an emphasis on providing space for new resources and programming dedicated specifically to young people.  The expansion includes two classrooms and a workshop for students´ science projects and teacher training, exhibit areas, a museum store, library space and additional storage space for collections.  Because part of the Bakken experience is the uniqueness of the building itself, great care was taken to ensure that the addition retains and reflects the architectural detail and feeling of the original Tudor mansion.   

"The whole place... seems a throwback to another time when skilled craftsmen shaped stone, wood and glass into places with lasting appeal.  Especially for the children who come to the Bakken, experiencing architecture of such quality may be as startling a revelation as feeling the spark of electricity."

Linda Mack, Minneapolis Star Tribune