Back In The Saddle Again

The architectural/project team, left to right: contractor Jim Hill; White Horse owners Victor Dzenowagis and Linda Egeland; architect Tamás von Staden; wood monger John Yarema, and videographer Bill Kubota, who made a documentary about the project.

PROJECT
White Horse Inn, Metamora, MI

“The inn itself has an incredible history as a physical object,” von Staden says, adding that the project was financed by the downtown development corporation and the state. “But it also is a reflection of all the people and the meals and conversations that went on there. Our charge was to bring it to the future, make it accessible and extend its life another 150 years by letting everyone settle back in.”

von Staden, who grew up in a historic inn in Woodbridge, CT, felt a special kinship and connection to the project. “I understood the language of the architecture,” he says. “And I could feel the history of the White Horse the first time I walked around outside it.”

The project captured the imagination – and eyes of the public. “It is the only restaurant in Metamora,” von Staden says. “Everybody in the area knew it because it was the place people went for Christmas dinner, holiday carriage rides and special celebrations.”

See the full story by Nancy A. Ruhling featured in Traditional Building…