The huge Shingle Style house located on the second-highest site on the bluff overlooking the Straits was built for Lawrence Andrew Young (1869–1923), a Chicago lawyer and railroad man who participated in the development of the Grand Hotel (
MK11) and Mackinac Island as a resort center. It was acquired in 1945 by the State of Michigan for use as the governor's official summer house. The rectangular, shingle-clad mass rests on rugged native limestone boulders, which also form the chimneys. From the mammoth hipped roof with dramatic flaring eaves supported by exposed decorative rafters are gabled dormers with similar flaring eaves. All the windows, as well as the comfortable porch that wraps around three sides of the house, afford dramatic views of the shipping channel and the Straits. The double-door entrance is surmounted by a fanlight. Originally the shingled siding was stained a dark color to blend with nature. Perkins of Chicago had attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Patrick Doud constructed the house.