In 1919 James and Cora Purdy hired local builders John and George Munro of Gagetown, Michigan, to begin building an Arts and Crafts style home. The house featured 15 rooms, including three full bathrooms, which was very uncommon in rural Michigan in 1919, as well as eight bedrooms, a fieldstone fireplace, a built-in kitchen ice box, a five-room basement arranged as living space for hired help, a porte-cochere at the north entrance, and a large covered porch used for entertaining and dancing. It was a very elegant home in its time, and the Purdys enjoyed showing it and entertaining guests there during their years at the Mud Lake Estate. The family moved into the new home on May 19, 1922, and lived there until 1942, when they moved back to the Village of Gagetown.