Join Docomomo US/MN and Docomomo US/Chicago as we explore our 2021 theme of Travel and Leisure with a virtual trip to one of the Midwest’s largest planned environmental recreational communities. Mount Telemark Ski Resort opened in Cable, Wisconsin, with three downhill ski runs in 1947. It eventually grew to include an Alpine-style chalet, a youth hostel, a two-runway airport, an 18-hole golf course, and four residential “villages,” each with a different character that reflected popular architectural styles of the 1960s and 1970s, including Swiss Chalet, A-Frame, and vernacular Scandinavian.
The crown jewel of the resort was the Brutalist-Organic-style 200-room Telemark Lodge, designed by Herb Fritz of Madison (a Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice) and Charlie Radloff of Minneapolis, with Northwoods Rustic-meets-70s-chic interiors by Darrel Howe of Los Angeles. During its heyday, the Telemark Lodge played host to fine dining, national music acts, and après ski nights in its discotheque.
