AFA Winter 2017

2017 Antiques & Fine Art 121 Fig. 4: The lodge contains the work of current-day American craftsman in its tile work, fabrics, rugs and finishes. Similar restored 1930s Rustic Storybook Style lodges in the community, owned by Lombardi, are available for rent. In a remote setting, they provide swimming, boating, fishing, tennis, skating and hiking in the forest. Alfheim Lodge Alfheim “Home of the Elves” in old Norse mythology Alfheim Lodge is the reconstruction of a Rustic Storybook Style lodge in Valhalla Highlands, an isolated, 1930s, stylistically cohe- sive, lakeside summer community in Putnam County near Cold Spring, New York. The lodge is part of a district of 55 lodges and 10 community buildings set on a lake in an untouched 1,100-acre forest; all are on the State & National Registers of Historic Places. Valhalla Highlands is the only known, planned community comprised entirely of “Rustic Storybook” architecture. The Storybook Style was popular in America between World War I and World War II for retreats in the rural areas of United States. Like the Adirondack Style, Rustic Storybook lodges are distinguished by the use of log construction and fieldstone walls and chimneys, but they differ by having asymmetrical peaked, swooping, multi-color roofs, cantilevered entry canopies, free-standing peeled log arches at the entrances, window awnings, half-log flower boxes, small-paned steel and wood windows, fieldstone paths and steps, boulder bor- ders, rock gardens with elf figurines and knotty pine interiors with oversize fieldstone fireplaces. Multiple years went into the planning, decorating, furnishings and assembling of the parts for Alfheim Lodge. It’s finished and furnished in context with the community, including neo-Medieval lighting, 1930s Rittenhouse and Gnomeman furniture (each piece has a small carved gnome—the spirit of the wood), and 1940s kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures. Lombardi continues to search for 1930s-50s canoeing, fishing, and other lake related items as well as Rittenhouse furniture. More images can be seen at: www.josephpelllombardi.com