ALL ROADS LEAD TO PENDARVIS HOUSE
FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS FALL, IN A LITTLE STONE COTTAGE BUILT BY CORNISH immigrants in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, the final meal was served at the famous Pendarvis House restaurant. Owned and operated by business and life partners Bob Neal and Edgar Hellum for thirty-five years, Pendarvis had entertained celebrities, curiosity seekers, and foodies from all over the world. Now, close friends and longtime supporters enjoyed the restaurant’s signature pasty meal in the small dining room on the Shake Rag for the last time. Following the closure of the restaurant, the State of Wisconsin would take over ownership of the property, and in 1971, Pendarvis would become the sixth Wisconsin Historical Society historic site. The life work of Hellum and Neal would be celebrated for decades to come, spotlighting a corner of Wisconsin history not just for this small city fifty miles southwest of Madison but also throughout the region.
How did a twenty-seat restaurant in rural Wisconsin capture the hearts of so many? The rise of Pendarvis is the story of the combined talents and remarkable relationship of two gay men who, with help from committed friends who believed in their work, created something unique and lasting in rural Wisconsin. Their partnership changed the fabric of a community, started a historic preservation movement in the area, and helped Mineral Point to become the first city listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin. And it all started at a notably difficult time in the nation’s history—during the Great Depression.
Though both men were born in 1906 and they lived less than sixty miles apart, Bob Neal and Edgar Hellum did not meet until they were in their late twenties. Neal was born in Mineral Point, the grandson of Cornish immigrants. During his high school years, he was mentored by William “Will” Gundry, a gay man who lived at Orchard Lawn, the mansion overlooking Mineral Point that would one day become the Mineral Point Historical Society. The Gundry family, also descended from Cornish immigrants, were prosperous merchants in town. Gundry stoked Neal’s curiosity in interior decorating, antiques, art, and music, eventually introducing him to Syrie Maugham, an internationally known interior designer who became Neal’s employer. While working for Maugham, Neal lived in Chicago (spending some of his time there as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago), New York City, and London. During this formative period, he learned about antiques, furniture repair, and customer service. On a visit home from London in 1934, Bob met Edgar.
Edgar Hellum was a native of Stoughton, born to a Norwegian family. In the years between high school and his first encounter with Neal, Hellum worked in a restaurant, an auto shop, two print studios, in his family’s shoe and leather factory, and as a carpenter. Though he did not travel widely outside the Midwest, this period of Hellum’s life paralleled Neal’s in notable ways. Like Neal, Hellum spent several semesters as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, though their time there did not overlap. He also found a mentor, Ralph Warner, a gay man with artistic interests similar to Gundry’s. Warner owned and operated the House Next Door in Cooksville, Wisconsin. This tiny community, established in the early 1840s, consisted of buildings from Wisconsin’s territorial era. In one of
