Saint Paul Historic Home Second Empire Style

This weeks historic home is located at 235 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul.

Built in 1878 as a duplex, the home was built for Charles P. Noyes, a local wholesale druggist. It is a very simple Victorian, built in the Second Empire style. Little of the exterior has changed over the years. The porch trim is different and there has been a third story window added on the west side of the home. I have always liked this home as it commands its own attention amidst a street full of grand homes.

The home is fairly large, even though it does not look like it from the front, with six bedrooms, seven baths. It is currently zoned as apartments with 4 units: the main house, the third story apartment, and two units in the back. The best part of the home is the view - every minute of the day you can gaze at the St. Paul Cathedral.

Greek Revival Historic Home on Nicollet Island

This weeks historic home is located at 101 W. Island Avenue on Nicollet Island.

For those of you not familiar with Minneapolis, Nicollet Island is located on very small piece of land in the middle of the Mississippi River, just off downtown. This simple Greek Revival home is known as the R.M.S. Pease House and was originally located at 814 University Avenue. It was moved to its current location in 1986. Rev. Mr. Pease was a well known banker and minister in Minneapolis and Saint Paul in the mid-1800's.

Historic Homes Often Come with Historic Families

Recently the Star Tribune published an interesting article about three families that live in Bloomington and were honored for their time in Minnesota.

"When Bloomington celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding earlier this year, the city recognized "Century Families" whose lineage in town stretched back 100 years or more. Three of those families were the Ponds, the Harrisons and the Pahls, whose descendants still live in Bloomington. "

They are not famous by any standards, but their founding fathers helped shape an area, that in the 1850's, was void of anything but nature and wildlife. We often forget where we come from, how we got here, and some don't stop to think about where they are going. But for some families, their family history is still passed down through the generations and they take pride in what their ancestors have done.

Summit Avenue Recognized as one of Best Streets in America

Recently the American Planning Association awarded Saint Paul as having one of the Best Streets in America. Summit Avenue, as us historic home lovers know quite well, is described as:

"During the late 19th century, Summit Avenue was not considered the grandest of the country's Victorian-era residential boulevards, yet today this 4.5-mile-long boulevard between downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Mississippi River stands alone as the country's best-preserved avenue from that period..."

Of course, we all ready know that Summit Avenue is grand and a true local treasure. But I think the Twin Cities in general is one of the best historic architectural archives in the nation. I get emails all the time from people across the country that have never seen homes like we have here...and it is so much fun showing them what makes our towns special!

Save the Clock...(I mean) MoorishTower!

I hear these words ring through my head as I drive by 2500 Portland Avenue in Minneapolis. A big fan of the Back to the Future trilogy, I can't help but feel the need to scream "Save the Clock Tower", or in this case, save a rare piece of architectural history from neglect. Yes, this Moorish home is located in a not so good part of town, but is there anyone out there willing to take the risk and save this historic home from further decay and vandalism?

As a real estate agent, I know that in today's market, the buying of a home comes down to price for most people. When this home was first placed on the market as a foreclosure by Automated Realty, it was priced at $229,900, well below the 2006 purchase price of $385,000. It has recently been reduced to $208,900. But the location of the home is the main culprit for its lack of appeal. If it were located in Ramsey Hill of Saint Paul, or near the Minneapolis chain of lakes, the home would have sold in no time at all. So is it any wonder that there are no takers?

Built in 1883 by Charles Bardwell, the original design was as a Queen Anne Victorian and was located on a different site at 1800 Park Avenue . However when the new owner, Emil Ferrant, purchased the home in 1890, he had Moorish features added to the home which can easily be seen in the onion domes. It is now simply known as the Bardwell-Ferrant House and was registered on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1984.

Before the home was bought and renovated in 1986 by Rolf Lokensgard, the once beautiful historic home was in disrepair. About $160,000 in renovations were put into the home and you can find stories about the renovation on other blogs. Please, someone, buy this house and save it!

Unique Roofs in Minneapolis

I wrote this post about a year ago over on my Luxury Real Estate blog site and thought it might be useful here, as not many people see this type of roof in other parts of the country.

When driving around some of the historic neighborhoods of Minneapolis, you might notice a unique roof on some of the homes. Rolled roofs at the eave are seen mostly around the Lake of the Isle area. The style is known as Cotswold Cottage and is designed to replicate thatch. It is an expensive roof to apply to your home, as special eaves must be constructed to support the roll over the roof line. In my opinion, this roof option should only be used on a Tudor style home, however I have seen it pushed onto a newer home with French design and it didn't look to good to me.

Two basic materials are used the most.

1) For a more authentic look, only cedar shakes should be used. The first home has cedar tiles and you can see by the closeup just how many tiles are placed on the roof. The pattern varies and is very time consuming, but the roof will last you a long time. The home really looks like a cottage out of Hansel and Gretel.

2) A cheaper way to employ the style is to use common place asphalt shingles. It gives the same affect from a distance, but to me is less pleasing to the eye closeup. It too will last you awhile, 20-40 years, and is cheaper to apply as the only real cost comes from the eave roll.

In a quick Google search, I found one local builder who advertises he does the replicated thatch roof, but I am sure there are others out there that also offer the style. If you are looking to replace your current roof with an architectural roof like thatch, make sure to call several roofing contractors and get detailed quotes, time to construct, etc. With it being more expensive to build, you want to make sure you get something that is priced well, but also high quality too!