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St. Paul Historic Home #24

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Kirby Fine Homes

This weeks featured Historic Home in St Paul is 749 Summit Avenue.

Built in 1888 by the famous Clarence Johnston and in collaboration with William Willcox, the home was commissioned by The Wheeler Family and cost around $12,000 to build.

 At first glance, you might think the home was built in the Richardson Romanesque style, mostly impart to the rough cut stone on the exterior walls. However it lacks any of the arches that define that style. Instead, it fits rightly into the a Queen Anne Victorian "masonry" category. The tower on the left has been built into the home and does not rise higher than the third story ridge line.
The home has been wonderfully restored to its former beauty. The wood work alone inside is something that could never be duplicated today without great cost to the home owner. At approximately 6500 square feet, the home has six bedroom, 5 baths, and a detached two-car garage. This past June, the home sold for $1.475 Million. Hard to believe a home would sell for that much and not have air conditioning. But many of these old homes still do not have the luxury as the cost to install, without disrupting the historical integrity of the home, is extremely high.

Sharon Simms
Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL
St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

Another beautiful historic home, Jennifer, thanks! We have a red rough cut stone building here in St Pete and I remember some from Newport.

Often in these old buildings you can install one A/C system for the first floor from the crawlspace, and an A/C system for the second floor in the attic. With this 3 story, I'm not sure how you'd accomplish it.

We had a historic home here in St Pete sell for over $4,000,000  that didn't have central air conditioning. The new owners have been renovating it for the last year and a half, including installing central A/C.

Dec 12, 2007 12:44 PM
Jennifer Kirby
Kirby Fine Homes - Minneapolis, MN
The Luxury Agent

Sharon - thanks again for reading! One problem is that many of these homes have such huge attics that homeowners want to utilize them, not have ducting running through them. Some have dropped the ceilings in hallways to cover the duct work and some don't bother as the cost is too high. Off grade housing doesn't really exist up here like in the South and with basements ceiling heights being so small, it takes up alot of room to put ducts there. In one of the historic Victorians we renovated in Pensacola, we ran the ducts in the smaller attic and under the offgrade house. The compressor had to be put in the attic for the second floor, and the other unit was outside for the lower level. It was not an easy thing to design.

Dec 12, 2007 01:29 PM
Trey Thurmond
BCR Realtors - College Station, TX
College Station , Texas Homes

Wow !

What a place. Wish I could see a closeup of the columns as they look interesting.

Dec 12, 2007 02:37 PM
Michael Greenslade
Better Homes & Gardens | Mason-McDuffie Real Estate - San Leandro, CA
Could vintage ceiling fans be used to cool the home?
Dec 13, 2007 06:53 AM