St. Paul’s finest residential street is Summit Avenue – a broad street
that extends for nearly five miles through the western half of the city. Many of St. Paul’s leading architects
designed mansions for the city’s business and social leaders, and today the
entire Avenue is included in both local and national historic districts.
In this installment, we will examine a number of homes that were built
in the Richardsonian Romanesque style during the 1880s and 1890s. For more information on these houses, and the
other homes located along Summit Avenue, see the AIA Guide to St. Paul’s Summit Avenue & Hill District (Larry
Millett, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2009) and St. Paul’s Historic Summit Avenue (Ernest R. Sandeen, Living
Historical Museum, 1978).
Joseph Lockey House
684 Summit Avenue
Hermann Kretz,
architect
1893
The breadth of this large home is accentuated by the alternating courses
of tall and short stones, which emphasize the horizontal lines of
building. The asymmetrical façade includes
a four-story gabled section at right offset by a three story turret at left,
the two sections connected with a broad porch.
Farrar-Howes Houses
596-604 Summit Avenue
Clarence H. Johnston,
architect
1890
Johnston was one of St. Paul’s most prolific architects, executing
numerous buildings in a variety of styles including Richardsonian Romanesque. This grouping of five houses derives part of
its design from the use of two contrasting colors of stone, differentiating the
wall surface from the trim.
The elegant
symmetrical façade with Classical detailing avoids the monotony often found in
row houses with slightly shorter houses at either end, and an interesting
treatment for the entranceways of the three center units.
Summit Terrace
587-601 Summit Avenue
Willcox & Johnston,
architects
1889
Clarence Johnston, architect for the Farrar-Howes houses above, teamed
with partner William Willcox one year earlier for the design of this row of eight
brownstone houses. The grouping is
anchored at either end by a tall turret, with gabled sections, projecting bay
windows, and a variety of treatments for porches and entryways creating a rich
and varied façade.
The Terrace is a
National Historic Landmark, not for its architecture, but for its connection with
author F. Scott Fitzgerald. His parents
moved into 593 Summit in 1914, when their son was away at Princeton. In 1918, they moved to 599 Summit, and it was
here, during the summer of 1919, that F. Scott Fitzgerald completed the
manuscript that became his first novel – This
Side of Paradise.
Chauncey Griggs House
476 Summit Avenue
Clarence H. Johnston,
architect
1885
This house, by prolific architect Johnston, was designed during the
first year of his practice in St. Paul.
Faced in Lake Superior sandstone, it was one of the first in St. Paul to
use this stone, which became very popular over time.
Now heavily obscured by foliage, the house
has a stately presence with its simple lines, arched windows at the second
floor, and octagonal turret.
Edgar Long House
332 Summit Avenue
Gilbert and Taylor,
architects
1889
This house is the work of Cass Gilbert and James Knox Taylor. Gilbert went on to become a nationally
recognized architect, after designing numerous buildings in St. Paul, including
the Minnesota State Capitol building.
In
this commission, the architects combined red brick and sandstone to achieve a
rich façade, including fine carved detail on the turret and central gable. The main entrance comprises a set of
elegantly carved double doors set within a massive Romanesque arch. An open porte cochere at the far left end of
the building was later bricked up.
William Lightner –
George Young Double House
322-324 Summit Avenue
Gilbert and Taylor,
architects
1888
Located adjacent to the Long house, these double houses continue a
stretch of massive stone clad houses along this section of Summit Avenue. The overall structure is clearly defined as
two houses, with the right half more in the Renaissance Revival style with its
boxy shape and Classical cornice. The
left half is more picturesque, with a pair of Romanesque arches on the front
porch supporting another porch above.
William Lightner
House
318 Summit Avenue
Cass Gilbert,
architect
1893
This is generally regarded as one of the finest houses along Summit
Avenue. Gilbert was at the peak of his
career when he designed this house, for the same client who had commissioned
half of the double-house next door, just a few years earlier. The influence of Glessner House is clearly
evident in the design, which is grounded by a large center entryway set beneath
a massive sandstone arch. Additionally,
the grouping of windows above, with engaged columns in between, clearly speaks
to Richardson’s design for Glessner.
However, by the time Gilbert designed this house, Romanesque was
starting to fall from flavor, so elements of Classical Revival mix seamlessly
in this transitional house. The
treatment of the stone is particularly effective, contrasting the sandstone
trim and banding with the South Dakota quartzite used for the wall
surfaces. The stone is further
delineated by utilizing tall courses of stone at the first level, and
alternating courses of tall and short stones at the second. The house was extensively restored in 2006,
at which time it was converted from its later use as seven apartments, back to
a single-family residence.
Next week: The James J. Hill
House and Laurel Terrace
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