Washburn-Fair Oaks Mansion District

Infobox_nrhp | name =Washburn-Fair Oaks Mansion District
nrhp_type =hd


caption =
location= Minneapolis, MN
area =
architect= Whitney, William Channing; Et al.
architecture= Classical Revival, Renaissance, Other
added = February 17, 1978
governing_body = Private
refnum=78001544 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The Washburn-Fair Oaks Mansion District is a historic district in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota centered around Washburn-Fair Oaks Park. The city of Minneapolis designated a district bordered by Franklin Avenue, Fourth Avenue South, 26th Street East, and First Avenue South. A smaller district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, includes seven mansions along and near 22nd Street East.cite book |last=Millett |first=Larry |authorlink=Larry Millett |title=AIA Guide to the Twin Cities: The Essential Source on the Architecture of Minneapolis and St. Paul |year=2007 |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |location= |isbn=0-87351-540-4 |pages=p. 203 ]

Overview

The development in the area was spurred by the desire of prominent families to move away from the central business district and to build larger and more elegant homes along what was the edge of town. Development began around the early 1870s and continued through about 1930. The houses within the district represent a number of popular architectural revival styles.cite web|url=http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/hpc/landmarks/Washburn_Fair_Oaks.asp|title=Washburn Fair-Oaks Historic District|publisher=Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission|accessdate=2007-09-03]

The park itself is named for the William Washburn mansion, known as "Fairoaks". It was one of the grandest Twin Cities mansions, built in 1884 for William D. Washburn, a lawyer who moved to Minneapolis in 1857 and amassed a fortune in the family milling business. Washburn lived in the house until his death in 1912, at which point he willed the mansion to the Minneapolis Park Board. The park board ultimately found the mansion too expensive to maintain, so it was demolished in 1924.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts building is located immediately south of the park. The site was formerly occupied by the Dorilus Morrison house, built in 1858 by a lumberman who moved from Maine and became a businessman in Minneapolis, as well as the city's first mayor. Clinton Morrison agreed to donate the old family estate to the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts. The house was demolished in 1911, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, designed by the New York firm of McKim, Mead, and White was completed in 1915.

The neighborhood surrounding the mansion district has high crime rates and the park itself is home to many of the homeless people of Minneapolis.Fact|date=April 2008

Mansions in the district

Eugene Merrill House

The Eugene Merrill House, at 2116 Second Avenue South, was built in 1884 by banker and lawyer Eugene Merrill, to designs by William Channing Whitney (1851-1945). The Merrill House is the oldest mansion in the district. Its rusticated red sandstone, bold massing, polygonal tower and characteristic clustered fenestration are marks of the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style. It is now owned by Rhett A McSweeney and Michael Fay, and is used as the offices of McSweeney & Fay, P.L.L.P.

Gale Mansion

The Gale Mansion, at 2115 Stevens Avenue South, was built in 1912 to designs in the Renaissance Revival style by Ernest Kennedy of Minneapolis. In 1855, the forty-acre tract had been purchased for $50. Water company records indicate that several smaller houses once occupied the Stevens Avenue site. [ [http://www.galemansion.com/Pages/history.html Gale Mansion history] ] The owner, Edward Chanary Gale, was the son of Minneapolis pioneer real estate broker Samuel Gale. His wife, Sara Bell Pillsbury, was the only daughter of Governor John S. Pillsbury. The house, now owned by the American Association of University Women, is faced in Bedford limestone. Many modern features were part of the design: a central vacuum-cleaning unit, a kitchen at ground floor level, rather than secreted in the basement, an intercom system. The house was centrally heated with a coal furnace; the decorative fireplaces were infrequently used. In the garden stands a fountain with the sculpture "Boy with a Duck" by Frederick MacMonnies.

Alfred F. Pillsbury House

The Alfred F. Pillsbury house, at 116 22nd Street East, is built in a Tudor revival style and faced with locally quarried limestone with a dense, craggy look. Alfred F. Pillsbury, the only son of John S. Pillsbury, was an art collector who collected a number of Chinese jades now on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Charles S. Pillsbury House

The Charles S. Pillsbury House, at 100 22nd Street East, is also in the Tudor revival style. The house features a polygonal conservatory, bas-relief carvings, and two statues of lions guarding the entrance gate. Charles S. Pillsbury was the son of Charles Alfred Pillsbury, the founder of the Pillsbury Company. The house is now owned by an organization that provides services for the blind.

Caroline Crosby House

The Caroline Crosby House, at 2105 First Avenue South, was built by the daughter of John Crosby, cofounder of the Washburn-Crosby Company, which later became General Mills. The house is a brick Georgian Revival structure.

Luther Farrington House

The Luther Farrington House, at 2100 Stevens Avenue South, is also in the Georgian Revival style.

Hennepin History Museum

The Hennepin History Museum was formerly the George H. and Leonora Christian House. It was designed by local architects Hewitt and Brown using Renaissance Revival elements such as a balustraded roof. George Christian was the manager of the Washburn-Crosby milling company in the 1860s and helped to perfect the "new process" of milling hard spring wheat to make a pure white flour. This process made Minneapolis flour highly competitive with flour from other mills. The building now houses the [http://hennepinhistory.org/ Hennepin History Museum] . The building is not listed on the National Register, but is part of the local historic district.

Before the project was finished Christian, his wife, and his son died, leaving Carolyn (also spelled Caroline) McKnight Christian, the younger Christian's widow, seven servants,and four foster children as the only occupants for the next forty years.

References