With Lake Minnetonka a whisper view away, spending moments on one of Barbara Burgum’s porches allows for hitting the high note with solitary or group gatherings. Photos: Susan Gilmore
A 1905 Lake Minnetonka home blends the indoors and outdoors on its century-old porches.
When you speak with Barbara Burgum about her 1905 Craftsman home in Deephaven, it’s clear she thinks of herself as the steward of the beautiful property—and not just the house, but the extensive gardens, restored prairie and rebuilt boathouse on its original footprint.
Back when Burgum was looking for a new home, “I had asked my [real estate] agent for a small house with a nice yard and a view,” she says with a laugh. “She showed me this five-bedroom monster that needed so much work. I’d never seen a house I loved as much.” The home, which sits on around 2 acres, overlooking Lake Minnetonka, was far from perfect when Burgum purchased it in 1999. “The kitchen was originally designed for cooks and servants and was therefore situated on the ‘back’ side of the house with no view of the lake. Burgum knew it would be a lot of work to open up the main living space while maintaining the exquisite details and style of the original architecture. But the house’s potential, especially its spectacular porches, drew her in.
Those porches, which Burgum has restored but minimally modernized, have become the heart of the home, partly because of their spaciousness. “The porches are just hard to beat,” she says. “Even during a big thunderstorm, you can still have dinner out here [in the winter or open porches].” The first level has five porches, including the winter porch, which flows into the open porch, which leads to the sunset porch, offering exquisite views of the sun going to rest over the lake. On the home’s north side, a barbecue porch connects to the working porch. And there’s more! A sleeping porch can be found on the second level.
Burgum utilizes most of the spaces for intimate dinners and large gatherings. She feels called to share her beautiful home with others. “I can entertain, and I didn’t know how much fun that was,” she says. She hosts business dinners, fundraisers for charitable organizations, garden-tour luncheons, prewedding dinners for relatives and more. The lake-side porches, which wrap around three sides of the house, can easily hold 120 guests for sit-down dining and other special events.
Barbara Burgum hosts family and social engagements, using her porches as the ideal venues for any sort of celebration.
In a clever bit of 1905 design, the French doors that open to all the porches fold completely back and tuck into niches in the walls, making the transition from indoors to outdoors almost undetectable. “Back when the house was built, you needed so much ventilation,” Burgum says. “You aired out your clothes; even the closets have windows.” In the hot summers of the early 20th century, guests would have arrived at the stately home by boat, climbed the steps up the steep lawn and entered one of the porches, enjoying the cool breeze off the lake. Pretty cutouts in the lower stone walls would have been open for airflow; Burgum has had them sealed off with a pane of glass to let in light and keep out pests.
Burgum and her team have sourced period-accurate furniture for the porches, including wicker chairs, tables and settees, along with sunfast upholstery in patterns that fit the Craftsman aesthetic. Burgum, a retired landscape architect, adorns tables with seasonal bouquets from her bountiful gardens. Brick-tile floors are cool and easy to sweep; screens are replaced with period glass for winter (“It’s charming and wavy,” Burgum says.); and the woodwork is stained deep caramel oak, with earthy green trim. Outstretched eaves over the porches keep out rain and the worst of the midday sun. The winter porch receives so much low-angled sun that it heats itself nicely even on cold days. “You can actually use it during the day,” she says. “My friends and I will enjoy lunch out there in the sun, wearing our blankets.”
The winter porch receives so much low-angled sun that it heats itself nicely even on cold days. “My friends and I will enjoy lunch out there in the sun, wearing our blankets,” Burgum says.
The barbecue porch opens off the kitchen and features an outdoor worktop covered by a deep roof and space for a grill. “You can actually set up a buffet out here,” Burgum says, which is handy for the luncheon crowds who regularly tour her gardens in the summer months. (She is an active member of the Cottagewood and Lake Minnetonka garden clubs.) “And I can also use the worktop as a potting bench for when it’s time to dig up my houseplants and bring them back inside.” During spring, summer and into fall, the half wall of the working porch is topped with an abundance of begonias, which cascade into an orange and green waterfall over the cleverly tucked garage door.
The barbecue porch opens off the kitchen and features an outdoor worktop, which can serve as a buffet space, ideal for luncheon crowds who regularly tour the home’s gardens in the summer months. “And I can also use the worktop as a potting bench for when it’s time to dig up my houseplants and bring them back inside,” Burgum says.
The sleeping porch, off the upstairs main bedroom, is a screened hideaway situated right in the treetops and would have kept the original homeowners and guests cool and comfortable during warm summers in days gone by.
For Burgum, the porches are about more than just aesthetics—they’re a way to create meaningful experiences for herself and her community. “I’m just glad that [the home] survived intact until I could be the one to take care of it,” she says. “When it’s all lit up with flowers, candles and music, and there are 120 people laughing—it feels magical.”
Read more about Barbara Burgum’s lovely lakeside gardens in the upcoming May 2025 issue of Lake Minnetonka Magazine.
