Michigan Governor's Summer Residence, Arts and Crafts style residence near Fort Mackinac, Mackinac Island, United States.
The Michigan Governor's Summer Residence, also known as the Lawrence A. Young Cottage, is a three-story, L-shaped Arts and Crafts house on a bluff above the Straits of Mackinac. Its walls and hipped roof are clad in wood shingles, while the chimneys and basement walls are built of large limestone rocks. The symmetrical main facade has a recessed veranda, and the interior features U.S. Southern yellow pine and about 7,100 square feet of floor space.
In 1901 Chicago attorney Lawrence Andrew Young took the fourth cottage lease from the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and had architect Frederick W. Perkins design the house, built by contractor Patrick Doud. The Hugo Scherer family of Detroit later owned it, and in 1944 the commission bought it back for its original cost of $15,000. It has served as the governor's summer residence since, with renovations in 2011 and 2012.
The house is also called the Lawrence A. Young Cottage, after the Chicago attorney who leased the site in 1901. Inside, the Young family crystal remains in a leaded-glass china cupboard in the dining room, and a tall case clock stands in the living room. Overnight guests have included presidents Harry S. Truman, Gerald R. Ford and George H. W. Bush.
The house stands at the junction of Fort Hill and Huron roads, on a bluff above the village and the Straits of Mackinac. Mackinac Island has no cars, so visitors reach the site on foot, by bicycle or by horse-drawn carriage from the ferry docks. The residence is a state property, and the commission maintains the house and its surrounding gardens.
The interior is finished in U.S. Southern yellow pine, while the exterior walls and roof are clad in wood shingles. The Young family's crystal is still kept in a leaded-glass china cupboard in the dining room, and a tall case clock stands in the living room.
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