The Minneapolis Real Estate Blog: Minnesota: Saint Paul: Summit Hill

This weeks feature is not of a home, but of a historic building called Woodland Terrace in St. Paul.

Located on Dayton Avenue, the row house was built in 1889, supposedly by B.J. Buechner. They were renovated in the 1980s and updated with new mechanicals, etc. The building really is amazing once you get a closer look. The patterned brickwork and small stone carvings throughout, including the arched entry ways, really make the building "pop". At first glance, the buildings look Richardson Romanesque because of the stone work, but when you look at the gables, balcony design, windows, and roof line, Queen Anne Victorian screams out at you.




There is currently one unit for sale through Coldwell Banker for $645,000. To give you an idea on size, the four level unit has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and around 2700 square feet. Many people compare these units to those found in New England Brownstone row houses.

This weeks showcase Historic Home of St Paul is 629 Summit Avenue.

I probably should have posted this during Halloween, but I forgot!

Built in 1896, this whimsical home was built for William Kirke and his wife by the famous Clarence Johnston. Johnston is known for having designed over 30 homes on Summit Avenue alone. Another home stood on this site from 1873-1893.

The doors are one of a kind and help give it my pet name for the home,"The Witch's House". There is just something mystical about the details in the home. For instance the tower roof looks like a witch's black hat, at least to me. As far as architectural design, the home is built in the Gothic Style and helps give it that witchy presence. The gingerbread trim and the high pitched front gable help distinguish the style from a Queen Anne home.

While it is hard to tell what exterior elements have changed over the years as I was not able to find any old photographs of the home, the shape of the home, the porch, the bracketed eves, and the tiny wood details, make me think that previous owners loved the home and kept it's historical significance intact.

This beautiful Summit Avenue home was recently sold for $1.09 Million. It has approximately 5700 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and also a third story apartment. Wood carvings and stained glass windows add interest to the home, as do the large dining room and parlor rooms original to the home.

This weeks featured Historic Home is 285 Summit Avenue.

In 1882, a two story Second Empire Home was built on this site by Henry Rice, a local congressman and US Senator. He owned the home until it was purchased by Fredrick Fogg in 1894. In 1899, A. H. Stem was contracted by Mr. Fogg to remodel the existing home, and what emerged was a Colonial Revival with a high-end twist.

The siding on the home seen in this photo taken in 1973 is not original to the home. But thankfully, since then, the owners have removed the aluminum siding and revealed/restored the original wood beneath. The home also has many architectural details worth noting. Doric fluted columns support the porch, with wreath molding details above. The front windows are very interesting as they are slightly curved, with transom windows above three others. The elaborate doorway on the second floor, as well as the main entrance, give the home an upscale feel of a typical Colonial Revival home.

Currently a single family home, the last recorded sale was in 2002 for $1.25 Million. With a little over 8000 square feet, the home has about 7 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.

This weeks Historic Home is 807 Summit Avenue.

Built in 1906 by Clarence Johnston for the Samuel Dittenhofer family, this home definitely stands out from the Victorian homes nearby. Jacob Dittenhofer built the home as a wedding gift for his son, Samuel, and his wife Madeline Lang.

The beautifully designed Tudor villa has a first floor exterior of brick and a second and third floor of stucco and half-timbering. It also has many gables, a feature typical in the Tudor style, with one "leg" of the east gable stretching down to the first floor. This feature seems to be popular on the Avenue as it is represented in about one third of the Tudor homes on Summit Avenue. It hasn't changed at all over the years. View a photo of the home as it appeared in 1920.

According to one source, the Dittenhofers went off to Europe in 1936 and never returned. The home sat vacant until Madeline donated it to the Christian Brothers in 1966. In 1999, the home was sold for $825,000 and returned to its single family residential status. It has approximately 9100 square feet, 12 bedrooms, and seven bathrooms.

This weeks Historic Home of St Paul is 366 Summit Avenue.

Built in 1928 at a cost of $120,000, this home was constructed for Dr. Egil Boeckman, a St Paul physician at the time. His wife, Rachel Boeckman, was the daughter of the famous railroad tycoon, James J. Hill and was the last home built by a member of the Hill family.

The home is an excellent example of a Georgian Revival design. It has the classic brick quoins on the corners of the home, the broken arch over the door, dentils at the eaves, double hung windows (that look to still be the originals), and symmetrical windows on either side of the front door. The home looks very much like it did in this 1932 photo. The home in 1973 shows you the eight chimneys topped with decorative cornices. It is currently zoned and used as apartments.

The reason this home was built at a later date than most other homes in my Historic Home series is due to a previous home being located on the site between 1884-1924 . The D.R. Noyes residence was a Queen Anne Shingle style home, characterized by the shingle facade on the second and third story. View another photo of the home taken in 1898.

It is really hard to photograph this home in the summer months as the trees hide the home well when in full bloom. Also, the home is covered in vines, pretty much hiding all the architectural details that make it a beauty. I for one don't like vegetation on homes, but alas, some don't seem to mind.

This weeks historic showcase home in St Paul, Minnesota is 705 Summit Avenue.

Built in 1898 for Jacob Dittenhofer, this Medieval style home was built by the famous local architect Cass Gilbert. Mr. Dittenhofer was a partner with the Golden Rule Department Store in downtown St Paul and built the home for a mere $15,000.

The home displays characteristics of Gothic architecture in the arches on the verge boards of the dormers and elaborate capitals on the porch columns. Another beautiful detail is the front second story window with its Gothic window stone arches and original leaded glass. The exterior stone comes from Mankato, Minnesota.

It is always best to view this home in the winter, as it is covered by vegetation during the summer and many details are hidden from site. Currently it is used as multi-family apartments with about 13,000 total square feet.

Summit Avenue is probably the most famous street in St Paul, allowing tourists and locals the opportunity to stroll down the street and enjoy the beautiful architecture.  While most cities have historic streets like Summit Avenue, most have lost their original character.  It has been said that St Paul's Summit Avenue stands as the best-preserved American example of the Victorian residential boulevard. The street sits high on a bluff that overlooks downtown St Paul and the Mississippi River and is actually over four miles long, traveling from the Cathedral of St Paul to the River.

The first home was constructed in 1855, well before Minnesota became a state in 1858. Since then there have been almost 440 homes built, of which around 370 still survive. Many have been converted into apartments or condominiums, but recently there has been a resurgence of buyers converting homes back to the way they were originally built, as single family residences.

At first the area was hard to get to, and horse and buggies were used. Around the last 1800's, the brougham was a popular "vehicle" for travel in the summer and Horse Sleighs in Winter. One of the main reasons that Summit Avenue is over four miles long is in part due to horses. The horses had to be exercised daily, housed in carriage houses found behind the mansions. In fact, the word "driveway" back then was used to describe "a place of elegant promenading of horses and people, so that one could see others and be seen".

Real growth started in around 1890 with the recent addition of city water service and the completion of the cable car line in 1887. It was truely an area of town in which only the wealthy could afford to live. But as time went by, and homes changed hands, these homes became expensive to run. So in the 1930's, the area started to decline and many homes were left rot. In the 1960's, homes could be bought on the cheap and many people started to once again see the beauty of the old homes and begin to restore them. Now, the entire area is on the National Registry of Historic Places.

View a couple street scenes of Summit Avenue: streetscape  streetscape2 

The LookOut Hotel was built in 1859 and was the only hotel on the Avenue. It was also the first structure to be demolished, sometime in the early 1880's.

Many of you might follow my Historic Homes series which highlights homes on Summit Avenue. I feature one home each week and give any history I can find on the home, as well as current sales. The homes below will give you an idea of how grand the mansions are on the hill.