The History of Lora Knight and Her Vikingsholm

Lora Knight

Lora Small (Knight) was born in Galena, Illinois, in 1864. Lora and her sister Ada married two brothers, William and James Moore, who worked as partners in their father’s law firm. After their father’s death the two brothers took over the firm and formed the Moore Brothers partnership and amassed a fortune with controlling interest in a number of large American corporations such as the Diamond Match Company, U.S. Steel and National Biscuit (Nabisco).

Lora and her husband, James, traveled extensively in California and to foreign countries. They also spent time at their luxury homes in Illinois and Wisconsin. In 1884, Lora gave birth to their only child, a son Nathaniel, who later married Helen Fargo, heiress to the Wells Fargo banking dynasty founded in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. The family spent most of their time in Chicago but vacationed in California often.

In 1914, the Moore’s built a lakefront estate in Lake Tahoe at Chinquapin which they called Wychwood. After their purchase of the Tahoe property, James’ health began to fail and he died in 1916, leaving Lora an estate worth $15 million.

In 1922, Lora Moore married Harry French Knight, a stockbroker. Harry was an amateur pilot and Harry and Laura were among Charles Lindbergh’s major donors for his solo Atlantic flight. In later years, Lindberg frequently visited Lora at her various estates including Vikingsholm.

Harry and Lora were divorced in 1928 and Lora Knight sold her Lakefront estate in Chinquapin to Robert Stanley Dollar Sr., a wealthy San Francisco businessman. She then purchased 240 acres of land at the head of Emerald Bay, as well as Fannette Island, from the William Henry Armstrong family for $250,000.

The Building of the Vikingsholm

Vikingsholm is one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the western hemisphere. Lora Knight commissioned Lennart Palme, a Swedish architect whom she was related to by marriage, to design Vikingsholm. She loved Scandinavian architecture and Emerald Bay reminded her of a Norwegian fjord with its steep surrounding slopes and deep blue water. Palme and Knight traveled to Scandinavia to research the design features that would be incorporated into her Tahoe castle. They visited Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden drawing inspiration for centuries old buildings and castles.. 

Construction of Vikingsholm began in the fall of 1928. Work on the home ceased at first snowfall in the winter of 1928 and was started up again in the spring of 1929.

Over 200 artisans, some from Scandinavia, and workmen constructed the estate by hand hewing the timbers, carving the intricate designs, hand planning the wood for the interior walls, and forging the hinges and latches. Mrs. Knight insisted that the natural environment of Emerald Bay be protected and so no trees were cut in the vicinity of the estate and the home was built around several large trees. Most of the materials came from the Tahoe Basin, trees were cut for their size and lack of knots, and the granite for the foundation and walls was quarried from behind the house.

She filled the house with original Scandinavian antiques and replicas she commissioned from artisans. She also exhibited baskets made by the famous Washoe weaver Dat-So-La-Lee. The house had modern fixtures, electricity, and each bedroom had a private bath. She had a single-lane dirt road constructed to the property so her and her guest could arrive by car. The property had a boat house constructed for her mahogany cabin cruiser named Valkyrie and a teahouse constructed on Fannette Island made from bricks cut from local granite.

The Later Years

Lora Knight died in 1945 and Lawrence Holland, a Nevada rancher purchased the Vikingsholm from her estate. He had planned to make the area into a development for Hollywood elite, but the plan never materialized and he sold the property to Harvey West. He too had development plans that never materialized and in 1953 donated the land and buildings to the State of California for compensation of half the properties value ($125,000). Now the property is a California State Park and can be visited year-round with tours of the Vikingsholm interior in summer months. For more information see the California Parks Website.