Nevada Lore Series: Vikingsholm, Lake Tahoe’s not-so-secret Viking Castle

Vikingsholm, (literally meaning Viking island in the middle of a lake) named after its creator’s love of Scandinavia and viking culture, is a mansion on the shore of Emerald Bay, boasting 30 rooms and perfectly reconstructed viking treasures.

Lora Josephine Knight purchased the property where Vikingsholm now stands for $250,000 (which would be $3.6 million today) in 1928, and immediately began planning her creation. Lake Tahoe, she said, reminded her of the fjords and mountains of Scandinavia. Knight wanted to build a summer home that was reminiscent of the culture.

Built in the height of the roaring twenties, Vikingsholm took one year to build between 1928 and 1929. Before construction began, Knight and her nephew, Swedish architect Lennart Palme, traveled to Scandinavia to learn about traditional methods of construction, and to research ideas for her summer home. However, most of the mansion was built with locally sourced materials found in Lake Tahoe.

Lora Josephine Knight wasn’t Scandinavian herself, however; she was born as Lora Josephine Small in Illinois in 1864, and her family claimed English descent.

She and her sister, Ada, married two brothers, James and William Moore, who worked at their father’s law firm.

Lora and James Moore spent their years together traveling, and had a son, Nathaniel, who married Helen Fargo of the Wells Fargo family. In 1915, Lora and James purchased a home in Santa Barbara, but James passed only a year later, leaving Lora a widow.

Lora Small Moore then met Harry French Knight, a stockbroker from St. Louis, a few years later and they were married, but not for long. Soon after, but before Vikingsholm was built, they divorced.

Knight commissioned Palme to design Vikingsholm after she visited the home he had built for himself in Rye, New York, based on traditional Scandinavian design, and was seemingly impressed by the architecture, and his attention to detail.

In the summer of 1928, Knight and Palme set off for Scandinavia and toured Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland to source their ideas. They toured wooden churches, ancient cottages, and Swedish stone castles. Palme gave such attention to detail that many of the features on Vikingsholm are nearly identical to features they found on their travels.

When they returned, they immediately got down to business to have the house erected. In the spring of 1929, two hundred workmen were brought to Emerald Bay, living in barracks while they worked. By the end of the summer, the house was completed.

What could be created by hand was. Timber was hand hewn just as it had been by ancient vikings, metal features such as hinges, latches, and fire place screens were all forged by hand. Even the intricate carvings were hand carved by skilled carvers.

Typical of viking design spanning from Scandinavia to Iceland, Vikingsholm even boasted a sod roof complete with wildflowers.

As far as furnishings go, Knight was particular. If she could not get museums to sell her the pieces she wanted, she hired craftsman to reproduce them in exact detail, many of which can still be viewed today at Vikingsholm.

Together with a staff of fifteen, Knight would arrive to VIkingsholm in the summer during the month of June, and stay through September before the Tahoe snow storms came through. However, a caretaker and his family lived on the property year round to care for the property while Knight was away.

After Knight’s death in 1945 at the age of 82, the estate was sold to a Nevada rancher by the name of Lawrence Holland, who, in turn, sold it to a California lumberman named Harvey West.

In 1953, West came up with an offer: He told the State of California he would donate one-half of the appraised value of the land and the Vikingsholm estate if the state would agree to pay him the other half of the land value.

Vikingsholm, Emerald Bay and the Tea House of Fannette Island are a part of the Emerald Bay State Park, and Vikingsholm is a part of the Harvey West Unit.

During the summers, the estate is open for tours, which run from May to September.

You can learn more about Knight, Vikingsholm and Emerald Bay by clicking here.

— The Nevada Lore Series focuses on the legends of Nevada and the surrounding areas that help build our culture, from ancient Washoe stories, to Old West ghostly visions, to modern day urban legends.

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