A Prairie Masterpiece Lost: The Edward W. Decker House on Bushaway Road
In the filtered light of a Wayzata summer, where the breeze rises gently off Wayzata Bay and the sugar maples dapple the slope of Bushaway Road, there once stood a house unlike any other on Lake Minnetonka.
Designed in 1912 by the pioneering Prairie School architects William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie, the Edward W. Decker residence was more than just a lake home. It was a manifesto in timber and glass—modernist before the word had cultural cachet. Horizontal lines etched into the land. Overhanging eaves like sheltering wings. Leaded art glass as luminous and intricate as anything by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was quiet architecture for a confident age.
Built as a summer retreat for Decker, then-president of Northwestern National Bank, the home embodied the era’s progressive spirit—where a life of financial influence still bowed to simplicity, serenity, and style. It stood at 250 Bushaway Road, an address now occupied by another fine residence, though the original no longer remains. But for those who seek legacy as much as lifestyle, the Decker House still echoes.
A House of the Lake, Not Just on It
Bushaway Road was already developing its reputation as a corridor of distinction when the Decker commission began. In an age when most Wayzatans came to the lake by steamboat or rail, a select few arrived with architects in tow. Decker hired Purcell & Elmslie at the height of their creative powers. Their design rose subtly from the wooded ridge, the low roofline mirroring the lake’s horizon.
Every window was a portrait of the outdoors. Leaded panels filtered light through geometric lattices. Inside, sawed wood beams, hand-crafted electroliers, and custom-built cabinetry bore Elmslie’s ornamental signature—a blend of Nordic restraint and prairie exuberance. The house was modern, but warm. Logical, but never cold.
A breezeway—unfussy and elegant—linked the main residence to a service building containing a garage and servant’s quarters. It was a home that understood how people actually lived. But it never forgot to inspire.
Summer’s High Point
This was a time when Lake Minnetonka was still private by nature, not policy. There were no opulent watercraft marinas or valet-only beach clubs. The grandeur was in the land, and in what you brought to it.
Decker and his family occupied the home for two decades, weathering the social rhythms of the prewar era with quiet grace. From formal teas overlooking Wayzata Bay to hushed evenings where the loons sang beyond the glass, the house was a container for a certain kind of life. Not ostentatious. But beautifully curated.
Then came the crash.
A Legacy Demolished—But Not Erased
The Great Depression, with its unrelenting erosion of capital, eventually forced the Decker family to sell. In 1944, the property was purchased by Allan Janney Hill, a businessman with different tastes. Hill preserved the breezeway and carriage house but razed the main residence, replacing it with a French manor-style home that incorporated two antique rooms—paneling, murals, and all—shipped from 18th-century France and reassembled like a cultural time capsule.
It was the fashion of the postwar elite to look backward, not forward. Modernism gave way to revival. And so one of Minnesota’s finest examples of Prairie School architecture was lost to history—at least physically.
But not entirely.
What Remains
Today, those who know where to look can still find architectural clues. The carriage house, still standing, is a quiet monument. The hilltop setting, preserved. The lines of the land whisper what once was.
The University of Minnesota’s Northwest Architectural Archives houses records and images of the home. A few pieces—furniture, fixtures—have surfaced in private collections. And those who live along Bushaway still speak of it, as one does a long-lost friend who meant something more.
An Invitation to Look Again
The story of the Decker House reminds us that legacy isn’t just built. It’s curated, protected, and—when necessary—recovered through memory.
For those seeking not just homes, but history… not just access, but meaning… Bushaway still offers rare opportunities. This is no ordinary street. It is one of the earliest platted roads in the region, once the path of Dakota trails, now the quiet stage for some of Minnesota’s most discreet and distinguished homes.
The Decker House is gone. But its spirit remains, not only in archives and surviving structures, but in the ethos of Bushaway itself.
If This Resonates
We offer access — to heritage, to shoreline, to legacy.
If you're drawn to properties like this — homes with architectural depth, historical roots, or quiet significance — we should talk. I work with a select number of clients each year to offer discreet representation and early insight across the Lake Minnetonka communities.
When you're ready to begin that conversation — not a transaction — We are here.
No current listings, please check back later.