Landschute is known for timeless homes on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. Photos: Landschute
Landschute combines Old World design philosophy with today’s lifestyle.
“I think architects are born to be architects,” says Jon Monson, founder of Landschute, an Excelsior-based architecture and building firm. “It’s kind of a genetic makeup that includes that creativity and problem-solving gene.”
Monson has been designing timeless homes around Lake Minnetonka since the early 1990s, and his philosophy—that architects should be involved in every phase of the building process—developed during a trip to Europe in 1975. As part of the University of Minnesota’s School of Architecture program, Monson and his classmates traveled abroad to study the historical buildings of small-town Germany. “I was part of a group that studied the old Renaissance town of Landshut,” Monson says. Every Friday, the various groups met at a local rathskeller for beer and exchanging updates. “We were never on time,” Monson says with a laugh. “The place was always filled with students, so the German professor would stand on a table and shout, ‘Where’s the Landshut group?’”
In addition to the name of his firm—which was Americanized to “Landschute” to help with pronunciation—Monson also brought home the concept of the master builder. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, “There wasn’t really a professional designation as ‘architect,’” Monson says. “The master builder was the architect. The continuity that I saw there was not what I saw in the profession back in the U.S.” In modern architecture practice, the architect would do his/her work and hand it off to a contractor. “That resulted in a huge loss in translation from the architect’s head to reality,” he says. Monson wanted to do both. “I wanted to be the designer and the one who executes the vision,” he says.
Landschute is known for its ability to utilize construction and design details to extract the best out of a lakeside home. “The more we did in the area, the more people looked at our classic, historic style and would hire us to do something in the same vein,” Jon Monson says.
After beginning his architectural career in the Minneapolis Warehouse District in the early ’80s, Monson realized his passion was for being both the architect and builder of custom homes. Since 1988, the Monson family has designed and built more than 150 homes in the Lake Minnetonka area. Monson says, “My goal was to go by boat to as many projects as I could.” Landschute was born. Monson built the business with a boutique feel, focusing on just a handful of projects at a time, so he could be involved in all of the details.
“He’s a sculptor,” says Hayley Monson Stoen, Landschute’s marketing director and Monson’s daughter. “He cares very deeply about his work and his artistry.”
Landschute is known for timeless homes on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, and that’s no coincidence. Monson’s wife, Mary Gray Monson, is a fifth-generation member of the Gray family, who settled on the easternmost side of the lake (You guessed it: Grays Bay.). “I had a real affinity for the lake from a historical context,” Monson says. “I did a lot of research on Mary’s great-grandparents.” In fact, one great-great uncle, Jesse Gray, was a builder, who constructed a number of homes and commercial buildings on the lake.
Mary herself has been an integral part of the business. “She’s looking over my shoulder and making sure it has a balancing of ideas,” Monson says.
“She’s always thinking about the livability and functionality of a space,” Monson Stoen says. “She picks out sinks and hardware and lighting fixtures. She’s a lighting genius.”
From the start, Landschute’s knack for lake homes was apparent. “The more we did in the area, the more people looked at our classic, historic style and would hire us to do something in the same vein,” Monson says. That style is “anti-trend,” he adds, focusing on quality materials and details like cedar shingles, stone masonry and wraparound porches. Then, there’s Landschute’s expertise in framing lake views. “A lake house has two fronts,” Monson says. “We want you to think you’re always in a primary orientation, regardless on which side of the house you’re on.”
Monson even includes landscaping plans in each design. “We’ll work with the homeowners and landscaper to develop a plan that brings the home to another level, without having landscaping that competes with the home,” he says. Landschute often designs around mature trees and preserves natural settings. “It’s incorporating what’s there and making this beautiful picture,” Monson Stoen says.
“A lake house has two fronts,” Jon Monson says. “We want you to think you’re always in a primary orientation, regardless on which side of the house you’re on.”
One recent Lake Minnetonka project incorporates Monson’s trademark textures. “If you look at the interior of this home, you’ll see a certain amount of texture,” he says. “In the stairwell, there’s wainscoting and a ceiling treatment with beams that have a dimension to them.” Those details give a home life and layers. “I’ve had many clients say, years after they moved in, ‘I just noticed this one detail,’” Monson says. “That provides interest and delight. There’s always something I hope they’ll notice that they hadn’t noticed before.”
Landschute
202 Water St., Excelsior; 952.470.7416
Facebook: Landschute
Instagram: @landschute
