Vikingsholm Castle in Emerald Bay
Lake Tahoe

Every year, visitors come in their droves to spend time enjoying the spectacular scenery of the largest alpine lake in North America. Emerald Bay is one of the many beautiful natural areas to be found on Lake Tahoe. It is a stunningly beautiful wilderness—a mixture of verdant evergreens and granite cliffs.

Vikingsholm is one of the most popular attractions in Emerald Bay, and indeed, Lake Tahoe. It is the finest example of Scandinavian architecture in the western hemisphere and it offers a fascinating glimpse into a unique style of architecture, as well as the life of the woman responsible for the building, Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight. Today, a tour of the house is a chance to step back in time and admire the beauty and attention to detail that went into the construction of Vikingsholm.

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Mrs. Knight spent months traveling Europe with her Swedish architect, Lennart Palme, seeking ideas for the construction of what was to be her summer home on the head of Emerald Bay. Work began on the 38-room castle in 1928, and although the winter snow forced a temporary break, the building was finally completed in 1929.

200 workers were drafted in to construct the castle and most of the materials were sourced from the Tahoe basin. Granite from behind the house was used to construct the shell and the timber was all hand planed. The sod roof is a particularly interesting architectural feature, as are the many intricate carvings and wall paintings inside the house. The interior furnishings reflect typical Scandinavian designs of the period and were all personally selected by Mrs. Knight.

In its heyday, the widowed and divorced Mrs. Knight had a staff of 15 running the castle and she regularly entertained her friends there, taking tea in the library or terrace, as well as on Fannette Island, which lies in the middle of Emerald Bay.

Fannette Island is the only island on Lake Tahoe. The heavily wooded chunk of land features a core of granite that rises up to 150 feet above water level. On the highest point is the only man made structure of the island—a Tea House constructed by the owner of the island, Mrs. Knight. The small structure resembles a miniature castle and it was here that Mrs. Knight and her friends were occasionally served tea. Sadly, due to vandalism in recent years, only the external stone shell remains.