In no other part of the country are grain elevators such an integrated part of the urban fabric. You can look up at those elevators and know you couldn’t be in any other city in America.
Midtown Homes on ther Home Tour
The Minneapolis & St Paul Home Tour is this weekend. The tour, which began 25 years ago as a way to showcase homes in city neighborhoods that were swiftly losing populations to the suburbs, offers 63 houses in a varieties of styles.
Here are some homes I am looking forward to seeing in the neighborhood.
3436 Longfellow #28 1909 Dutch Colonial, a labor of love
Ruth Koontz bought a vacant house that had been chopped u
p into boarding rooms several years ago and put her friends and family to work renovating it. It is a 1909 Dutch Colonial with box-beam dining room ceiling, hardwood floors, leaded glass windows, and – if you can believe it in a house of this vintage – walk-in closets!
The photos on this post are from this home. The only evidence you will find of the home’s former boarding-house status is the marks left from deadbolts on each bedroom door.
What I love about this house being on the tour is that it shows what a homeowner can do on their own. The renovation was not contractor or architect driven; it was simply a labor of love on the part of the owner.
Of course, the other great thing about the house is its location in the fabulous Corcoran neighborhood of south Minneapolis, which is where I call home as well!
Also in the neighborhood:
3342 Bloomington Ave #27 1907 Four Square + Addition
I have always wondered about this house with corrugated metal siding on Bloomington Av
This Bloomington Avenue house has long caught my attention with its corrugated metal siding (it makes a cool backdrop for watching the May Day Parade). Here (in part) is what the owners have to say about it.
Our home is a good example of creativity with limited funds. We took a falling down neighborhood eyesore and made it into a light-filled modern home. We really enjoy this neighborhood and the vibrancy of social consciousness around us. We chose a house amid this, and rebuilt it to represent our love of good design - for children and adults. » more
3624 17th Ave S #26 1919 Bungalow with kitchen remodel
Another Powderhorn Park treasure, this kitchen remodel shows how to incorporate new amenities while keeping the original arts & crafts breakfast nook.
3139 2nd Ave S #29 1886 T.P. Healy Victorian on the National Register of Historic Places
See it on the tour, then see it again in House of Ghosts, a black-and-white 1950s movie premiering May 23 at the Heights Theatre.
2852 35th Ave S #31 Sponsored by Center for Energy and Environment
If you want to see some innovative energy efficiency upgrades and urban food production techniques, stop by this home to see solar electric and hot air panels and talk with the experts about solar energy, urban farming and more.
Click here for Tour information
Printed copies of the Home Tour Guide at most Hennepin County Libraries (including Minneapolis), Ramsey County Libraries, and Saint Paul Public Libraries.
Frank Lloyd Wright Room (1912-1914), currently preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Frank Lloyd Wright Room was originally the living room of the summer residence of Frances W. Little, designed and built between 1912 and 1914 in Wayzata, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.
I am plotting my course to see many of the 63 homes on the Minneapolis & St Paul Home Tour this weekend. As it corresponds with the St. Paul Art Crawl, I’m thinking that venturing into Lowertown is a must!
Here are some of the St Paul stops I plan to make » more
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Dick & Jane’s Big Brass Band coming to flamingo Fridays @corcoranMpls
Easter egg hunt, Logan Park, Broadway and Monroe, Minneapolis. (1923) by the Minnesota Historical Society
Public Orchards & Gardening Class Calendar
Thinking of getting your hands in the dirt? Charley Underwood put together a calendar of gardening classes in a Southside Pride article. He also has some cool ideas about public orchards and “streetside fruit trees … where you can munch your way as you walk to work or school” more »
The Great Egg Crawl is this Saturday. If you are looking for egg hunts and bunny parties in other Minneapolis neighborhoods, see Mpls Parks.
Finally! Minneapolis collects plastics.
For more information about recycling in Minneapolis: go to the city web site or call (612) 673-2917 
