Vikingsholm, Emerald Bay State Park

El Dorado County, California

• 2006 Cultural Resource Award, California Preservation Foundation

Vikingsholm is considered to be one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture existing in the United States. Patterned after Medieval and Renaissance Scandinavian buildings, the site and its buildings are on the National Register of Historical Places and the California Register of Historic Places. Mrs. Lora J. Knight built this home for her family in 1925, assisted by architect Lennart Palme, after a visit to Sweden and Norway.

In 1974, a tree fell through the West Wing which destroyed the original split-log saddle roof constructed on this Wing. At that time, the State of California Department of Parks and Recreation installed a shingle roof on the Caretaker's House. Currently, the shingle roof has failed, has been removed and fund-raising efforts are being conducted to reconstruct a saddle roof similar to the historic log roof.

In 2004, Jerri Holan & Associates, with consulting architect, Henrik Bull, FAIA, prepared a report providing recommendations for the reconstruction of Vikingsholm's log roof in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and with the Preservation Objectives of the 2001 Historic Structures Report prepared for this site. The original roof possessed a high degree of specialized craftsmanship that required unique construction techniques and special types of logs. The methodology employed to prepare this study included historical research, field investigations and documentation, architectural analysis and recommendations as well as a scale model illustrating reconstruction.