Secrets of the City

I like Ranty and her preservation and all but I’m still not sure how I feel about her need to refer to North Minneapolis as NoMi.

But seriously, she’s doing some great work in some neighborhoods that really could use the help, including Grandma Bixby’s!

I can think of worse things to refer to N. Minneapolis….

That sattellite dish on the roof looks extra sexy with the copper domes in the foreground…

It’s a shame what has happened to the beautiful houses in these hoods. So many are totally run down and nearly beyond repair, it seems. If only more people cared.

The idiot quotient in that article’s comments is touching on YouTube levels.

By the time this stuff gets in the paper, I’m quite sure the thieves have figured most of this stuff out. Mischievous types have the time, but not the desire to steal a giant copper onion dome souvenir, and thieves are simply too lazy to collect it for scrap. Pipes are much easier to extract and haul away.

Connie doesn’t just talk about preservation, she LIVES it!

so true. Connie is extremely well preserved.

i like the comments about moving the house….dumb.
Let’s move this house to Lakeville…

Like the connection between location and the house are not part of its history, that needs to be preserved in a bundle…

I dunno…I think that house would look really good in Astoria, Oregon.

The house was originally at 1800 Park and was moved to 2500 Portland.

The Elisha Morse cupola house was moved by the Whittier neighborhood
in 1991 and their are a bunch of houses right by MCAD that were
moved there when condo towers went up near Loring Park…

The Schubert theater was moved and even though it’s not reopened
yet, there are folks working hard on that.

A group of old houses WERE moved to Nicollet island and they and those
already there were sold to folks for $1…they don’t pay any property
tax either…architects Miller Dunwiddie renovated those and probably
some public funding was used.

All the housing inbetween 2500 and 2546 on Portland is multi-tenant
and run down…a commentor on the Strib site says the building next
door to the BF house is a PPL (Project for Pride in Living) structure…
most of the buildings directly behind the BF house are vacant, some
boarded.

PPL or Fairview Ebenezer (right across the street) may want to expand
their empires. They’ve got the bucks to buy the house, gift
it to Connie and MOVE IT to Nicollet Island.

That won’t happen, but it SHOULD HAPPEN!

They’ve got the bucks to buy the house, gift it to Connie and MOVE IT to Nicollet Island.

Welcome to Rantasy Island.

Oh my goodness I am overwhelmed Madeline… thanks so much for your kind words, but I think we should wait until the house is safe before doing any congratulating!

Like I said to the reporter, and like I said to City Councilman Robert Lilligren via email, to his assistant, and by message left last week AT HIS HOME: THIS HOUSE NEEDS THE FRONT DOORS BOARDED.

I’m sorry to say that – I HATE boarding. But this house is in serious jeopardy and nobody at the listing company or at the city (per 311) seems interested in doing anything about it.

I understand why some might think that its dangerous to publicize this house and the threat, but guess what? Serious looters already know the house is there, they can see the sign in the yard, and I’m quite sure they saw the dumpster full of crap last week (the week the mantels were stolen) as well. The signs of it being vacant are large and glaring already, and someone who knows their stuff in terms of architectural items has ALREADY moved on this.

An outcry is needed.

Feel free to place your own calls/emails to Robert Lilligren and/or perhaps the Mayor if you like… and tell them to do an emergency board-up.

Surely with all this publicity someone will purchase this historic home and renovate it? I am an avid history buff and love exploring/reading about/discovering all these old homes in Minneapolis.
Keep up the good work Ranty! Goonies never say die!

Wow, speaking of raising attention…

Jeffrey Swenson of Swenson Art Glass just showed up at my door to offer to remove the original windows and hold them for safe-keeping as well as prepare a bid for their restoration when the home is sold.

That is so cool!

I don’t see why people hate that neighborhod so much. I see so much potential. It doesn’t help that 35 runs straight through that part of the city that isolates that ‘hood pretty bad. If only we had continuous blocks there instead of soundwalls blocking out the freeway. That would make the neighborhood a lot better.

It would mak a cool B&B! I like “onion-domes”, too.

Turnip domes are cool too.

Oh, and I should add – the property is listed by Robert Maresh with Automated Realty Inc. Feel free to call his office at 651-481-1111 and encourage them to fortify those front doors to prevent further theft AND to preserve the doors (which are themselves historic) from damage should someone decide to try and kick them in.

My recommendation is boarding from within, personally. (Still allowing agent access through a different and sturdier door in the back.)

But if not, I’ll take a city board-up too.

I see an eccentric old cat lady living in it after it’s fixed up who never gives out treats at Halloween and has 35 cats.

Just found out that no police report was filed when the theives broke
in and stole the fireplace mantels, and broke the windows and tried
to strip the pipes. (say did you know that ONLY Minneapolis requires
using copper pipes for gas? elsewhere it’s cast iron and PVC)

The mantles were probably hauled out through the big double doors in
the front in facing Portland in full view of anyone around.

Whoever scared the thugs off before they got everything
including the copper pipes…. Wish you had called the police
and filed a report, but THANK YOU!

With no police report filed, if we happen to find the fireplace mantels
say at BAUER BROTHERS etc. we won’t be able to prove they
were stolen and will have to pay $$$$$$$$$$$$$ to get them back.

And yes the worst subprime lender in the U.S. the owners of
the house Country Wide Home Loans and Robert Maresh
the realtor and the mysterious “property manager”
I just heard about have been asked MANY TIMES to
secure the doors

so the thugs can’t get come back and get what they
did not get the first time

And they’ve been asked to

TURN OFF THE GAS before the rest of the copper pipes
get stolen and the HOUSE BLOWS up!!!

So far they’ve done nothing.

That’s why their negligence needed to be made public.

I’m not surprised that no report was filed… ugh.

I’d like to file my own !*%@!!-ing report on the agent/manager who SAW THE MANTELS RIPPED OFF THE WALLS AND LEFT THEM LAYING ON THE FLOORS OVERNIGHT WITHOUT SECURING THE BUILDING.

/shout

Sending an email now to Lilligren and Rybak.

The doors have now been barred.

Thanks to everyone who help make this happen!

A “tip o’ the copper hat” to Ranty!

There’s nothing quite like enlightened $elf intere$t.

This house looks totally bad-ass, I love the domes, I’m glad it’s getting publicity and hopefully someone can bring it back to life!

Wow!!!I fell in love with this house. It would be pefect for my family.The apts. would have to go. Pefect house to take care of of our moms,wooden rocking chairs on the porch drinking lemonade in the summer.(can you see the vision?)
I could handle the purchase but no resources to put it back to what it should be. I guess I will continue to dream.

Or you could make a below-list offer and build in fix-up money through a purchase-rehab loan… and/or tap the neighborhood organization for their assistance funds…

i just saw this house and am in despair at what the condition must be like (i havent seen it in person). but i am looking for a home with character. this house is amazing and the history is amazing. does anyone know the expected cost to restore? or the specs? does anyone even know what the missing mantel pieces looked like? to be able to replicate to historical accuracy? couldnt whoever first discovered the mantels missing file a report? why would it have to be the person who saw them being hauled away? they were gone and obviously stolen right? is it too late for that? i was pretty amazed that they turned a historical landmark into a fourplex. i thought that concept alone was an austrocity. I read the plumbing, heating and electrical were all in need of repair or replacement. is that accurate too! any ideas of the total cost of repair to make this home what is should be or once was again? i am interested but i dont know if my interest is too lofty. very curious and very interested. someone give me some info please!!! im sure if it was purchased by a well meaning history lover with the intent to revive, that one could hope for community support in raising funds to restore the property. thoughts?

I first heard about this house from my girlfriend, who used to rent a 2 story apartment on the back side of the house. She told me that people who have lived in the neighborhood for quite some time made mention of it being used as a brothel once upon a time. Apparently the room in the basement that she used as a closet was once a changing room for the girls that worked there. Also, it is said to be haunted. I don’t know much about hauntings, but the idea of moving it appeals to me in that moving the house would hopefully leave any spirits behind.

I drove by there today to take another look, and there is still a lovely blood smear on the siding on the right side of the front porch. The balcony is sagging to the point that it looks like it might fall off, and the iron fence surrounding the property looks like it’s been hit by a few cars in its day. It either needs new, 8′ tall iron fences, or the whole house needs to be relocated to a more appropriate location.

I would love love LOVE to own this home. I’ve never wanted to restore something more. Not even a 69 Chevelle would take my attention away from this beautiful home. There’s got to be a way to save it.