Scavenger Carrion Esq.

What is this? More soon.

Enchanted

2616 Colfax Ave So, Minneapolis,MN

Once upon a time as the weary traveler wandered through an unfamiliar forest…a very special house appeared…

So storybook was this house that the traveler was suddenly Giselle all sparkly, tulle and satin and then Prince Edward swashbuckling, with embellished puff sleeves royal purple….

Above the doorway the traveler noticed the baroque lettered legend “Ogren and
Trigg”… just as his imagination began to work to classify such names…the hour stuck and the chimes of a dozen clocks cast the most magical of enchantments…

Messrs. Ogren and Trigg clock makers, time travellers and wizards…

Who knows what mechanical wonders or time portals await beyond those double oak front doors…

The traveler raised his reverential camera to capture an image encompassing all details of said special house…CURSES!!!!! L-E-A-F-S!!!!!

Yes, we know it’s leaves…but too graceful a word for the bane of Cool Old Building photographers…obnoxious architectural detail obscuring foliage
of all kinds….ARRRRGH!

Park Ave Tours

From Queen Annes to Classical Revivals: Stories of Park Avenue and Its People

Sponsored by the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission Co-sponsored by the Hennepin History Museum and the Minneapolis Historic Homeowners Association

Date: Saturday, June 27
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Start: Intersection of Park Avenue and 31st Street
End: Park Avenue and 36th Street Guides: Ryan Knoke and Montana Scheff

Once the Summit Avenue of Minneapolis, Park Avenue was the street of choice for many of the city’s most successful business professionals during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

This free tour will focus on the several blocks south of Lake Street where upper-middle class families built some of the city’s finest wood frame houses.

Step back in time as you stroll down this still grand boulevard where ornate Queen Annes are nestled alongside stately Classical Revivals, and elegant Four-Squares share blocks with English-inspired Bungalows and Tudors.

Admire original photographs and hear stories about the first owners, including Pauline Fjelde, internationally-recognized artisan and Minnesota’s own “Betsy Ross.” Ascertain the differences between turn-of-the-century architectural styles, learn about the prominent architects and builders of these fine residences, and visit an 1898 James Record-designed Queen Anne.

Find out how Park Avenue’s premier status made it one of the first city streets to be paved, and discover what is being done by current residents to preserve and restore these impressive homes back to their original grandeur.

The tour will conclude with a garden social featuring refreshments and insider tips on how to get started researching the history of your own home.
This tour is free.

To sign up, call the Hennepin History Museum at (612) 870-1329. For more information about other 2009 Minneapolis Historic Summer Walking Tours, visit www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/hpc/.

View Ryan and Montana’s Park Avenue House Histories on Placeography.org

Here

Park Avenue: As They Lived and Walked

Sponsored by the American Swedish Institute and the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission
Date: Saturday, June 6
Time: 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Start: American Swedish Institute, 2600 Park Avenue
Guide: Jessica Hobson

To get the full Park Avenue story, you’ll also want to experience “Park Avenue: As They Lived and Walked” to hear the diverse accounts of immigration north of Lake Street along Park Avenue’s “Golden Mile”—from the millionaire magnates of industry and commerce who built some of the city’s most impressive mansions, to the servants and gardeners who worked for them.

This tour is free, but pre-registration is required. To sign up, contact the ASI at (612) 871-4907.

Preservation Month May 2009

Cynthia Kriha and a group of folks made this spectacular photo of Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis Minnesota!

This photo and several others are posted on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s This Place Matters Flickr group.

The face says ADD TAGS to your photos people so we know what

we’re looking at and where it is!

What place Matters most 2U?

This Place Matters

Mill Ruins Park

Mill City Museum

Dodd Ford Bridge

Lakewood Cemetery Chapel

Christ Lutheran Church

Pauline Fjelde House

Bardwell-Ferrant House

Minnesota Linseed Oil Paint Co.

Minnesota Varnishes

Fort Snelling Upper Post

Red Wing Depot

The Greenest House

Our GAIA is rare and precious…all life is…

cue Cat Stevens singing “Morning Has Broken…”

I remember seeing these when they were made… Earthrise and the Big Blue Marble…one of the Astronauts read from the book of Genesis…
Earthrise

Big Blue Marble

I’m a little tardy, but heck every day is Earth Day…isn’t it?

or so a wonderful message from Steve Sikora said today…

Steve and Lynette restored Frank Lloyd Wright’s Willey House in Prospect Park.
Willey House

From: Steve Sikora
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 8:47 AM
To: Steve Sikora
Subject: Earth Day is everyday

“The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.”
- Buddha

Our environmental problems are spiritual problem. Once we gain respect for the earth, we save the planet and ourselves.
blessearth

Best,
Steve Sikora

Steve and Lynette’s work proves that “The Greenest House is the one Already Built.” Greenest House

Greenest Buiding.org

Greenest Building Blog

National Trust Sustainability Initiative

The Greenest Building is the One Already built by Carl Elefante

Saved by City Hall

My rare garnet orchid…

Trapped in a Grand Theft Auto world.

Rumors surround you…again. Have you or have you not?
Anyone who acquires you inherits me.

I was ready to sacrifice everything I own for you, but everything I own was not enough to buy you, move you and restore you.

A house just a few streets from you at 729 E 26th Street was chosen to survive. It was lifted by strong arms…transported then transformed to 2912 3rd Ave So.

What can I do to rescue my beautiful Bardwell?

I must get elected to City Council.


Totino House

Demolition Tracker

Databases, maps and photos. A great combination!

This could be used as an instrument to prevent pending demolitions.

Click on the colored balloons here
City County Demolition Collaborative 2008
and you get a photo and an address of each propertry.

This was created by someone in the City of Minneapolis Problem Properties Unit. Don’t know if this is up to date, but if it was, that would be great!

Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission’s “Demo Memos”

Good stats and photos, but needs a little resolution reduction for faster downloading.

Jan 27, 2009

November 18, 2008

October 28, 2008

August 2008

July 27, 2008

June 24, 2008

Mary Lou & Jean

Is it possible you may ask to devote every entry in this blog to a single house? Yes. Will I? Maybe.

THIS house inspires infinite devotion.

The tragedy of Bardwell’s condition is so raw and so aggressive, so unjust, it must be spoken of large and loud.

In the photo it’s 1985, the golden time of Bardwell’s rebirth and renaissance…
Mary Lou Maxwell and Jean Stewart rescued the house when it was crumbling and abandoned and brought it back…and here they are looking much better than they did on the murky scratchy image from microfilm I published before…

They were photographed by Art Hager in 1985, standing on Pete Holly’s magnificently restored porch with his graceful swirling columns…
smiling with all the energy of victorious restoration.

An image made from the vast photo archives of the Minneapolis Star Tribune itself an endangered resource like my beautiful Bardwell.

Mary Lou and Jean.

My heroes.

I summon ye wherever ye may be …. from the four corners of the earth and heaven…this glorious house needs rescue now.

Relisted

Save the Bardwell-Ferrant House!

photo by Jeff Wheeler for the Minneapolis Star Tribune

As 2008 becomes history, it’s important to remember here an effort to save the Bardwell-Ferrant house in August when it’s foreclosure, vacancy and vandalism
were discovered.

This effort was led by Connie Nompelis, Minneapolis preservation activist and owner of one of Theron Healy’s houses on the Healy Block at 31st and 2nd Ave South in Minneapolis.

With the exception of Bob Roscoe, architect and life long preservationist,
local preservation organizations did nothing to notify their members of Bardwell’s plight. They did not contact local media or City Council persons. They did not post anything about the house on their website.

It’s true that preservation organizations do not have the funds to purchase all the historic houses in distress. But the reason for their silence and their refusal to take any action is a mystery.

Isn’t raising awareness of the need to preserve historic buildings the reason they exist?

Has this house been saved?

No. It hasn’t.

For Sale Historic House Needing TLC August 14, 2008

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Wikipedia – Bardwell-Ferrant House

City of Minneapolis – Bardwell-Ferrant

Placeography – Bardwell-Ferrant

American Architecture of Moorish Inspiration

The Bric-a-Brac styles by Charles Nelson, 1999

Bardwell-Ferrant House Wikipedia

Healy House – Ashes of Roses

Healy House – Stolen Property

Healy House – Preservation 911

Strib Covers Bardwell-Ferrant

Moorish Revival Gem in Disrepair

Historic House Attracts Potential Buyers

Bardwell-Ferrant House on Mnspeak

BAH HUMBUG!!!

Still don’t know who this fellow is, one of the many detailed, elaborate carvings
on the Masonic Temple building in downtown Minneapolis. Yep, it’s carved
stone not terra cotta…and I wonder if any photog has managed to capture
every detail in it’s Egyptian glory.

I suppose somewhere in one of the many archives that I’d have to make
an appointment to visit and jump through 20 hoops to use, may or may
not be a document that identifies this guy.

This time of year the face resembles Ebenezer Scrooge or maybe Jacob Marley…

So merry, happy, blah,blah,blah…

BAH HUMBUG!!!