Published on: Wed, 04/21/2010 - 13:21
The Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour, Saturday and Sunday, April 24 and 25, inspires homeowners who are thinking of remodeling their homes. On Sunday, April 25, noon-1 p.m., there will be a workshop on “Historic Homes for Everyday Families” presented by Amy Meller, AIA, LEED AP and Angela Wolf Scott, Assoc. AIA. LEED AP, both architects with MacDonald & Mack Architects. Location: offices of the Greater Frogtown Community Development Corporation, 533 Dale St. N., St. Paul, MN 55103.
Whether it’s your first home or dream home, this workshop will walk you through the process from concept to construction. Topics covered include when to hire (and how to work with) a professional, tricks of the trade, historically appropriate materials, adding or accentuating historic features, and what’s involved in, when necessary, getting HPC approval. And you won’t have to miss seeing homes – the workshop is in the hour before the tour opens.
After the workshop, attendees are urged to venture south on Dale to the Summit Hill neighborhood where, at 623 Summit Ave., F. Scott Fitzgerald’s maternal grandmother’s former home has received a stunning kitchen makeover…done within historic preservation guidelines. Not far away, at 675 Goodrich, is another stately home on the tour. Other homes with the “H” icon in the Home Tour Guide (available at libraries starting April 1) and on the website now (www.MSPHomeTour.com) have self-selected as doing their part to honor history. Dayton’s Bluff is another good choice for seeing older homes well-preserved. Carol Carey of Historic Saint Paul will have her home at 635 Bates on the tour.
In Minneapolis, Architect Bob Roscoe will conduct walking tours of the “Storybook” houses on a little-known stretch of Washburn Avenue North (42nd to 44th Avenues) at 1:30 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, April 24 & 25. Start at 4254 Washburn Avenue where Roscoe says “George Washington didn’t sleep here – but Hansel and Gretel may have!”
Also in North Minneapolis at the corner of Glenwood and Penn, there will be hourly tours of the Ripley Gardens transformation of the former Ripley Memorial Hospital, now rental and owner-occupied housing in a complex with new, complementary buildings. The project recently received the National Award of Excellence for Sustainable Community Development.
For information about the tour’s 53 homes (35 in Minneapolis, 18 in Saint Paul), go to www.MSPHomeTour.com. Tour Coordinator Margo Ashmore is at 612-673-5103 or link@nrp.org. The tour is brought to you by the Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program and 34 other private and public sponsors.
