Restoration, Preservation & Design

Vonnegut Cottage Restoration & Historic Rehabilitation

Lake Maxinkuckee became an early retreat destination for Hoosiers beginning in the mid-1800s. Notable Indiana industrialists, authors and songwriters developed lake houses through the early 20^th century.  These include members of the Vonnegut family who constructed a small compound and orchard on the lake’s east shore. The Clement Vonnegut Cottage started as a small one-story frame cottage with just a few rooms prior to the turn of the century.  As the family grew, so did the cottage until it became a large house with multiple sleeping rooms and an attached servants’ quarters. The house left the family’s ownership briefly, during which time its ill-fate was nearly sealed, until a consortium of alumni of Culver Academies stepped in to preserve this important piece of Maxinkuckee’s history. Accessing state and federal rehabilitation tax credits for income-producing properties in National Register districts, the for-profit ownership leveraged the 20% credit against restoration costs.