Not only is Summit Avenue in St. Paul home to the Governor’s mansion and F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s former home, it’s also home to the longest remaining stretch of residential Victorian architecture in the country. Next week you can take an evening to get an insider’s peek into nine homes and a couple other properties. The Ramsey Hill Association, which is dedicated to preserving the architectural history of the Summit Avenue neighborhood offers up its biennial house tour on September 19 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Take your time to guide yourself throughout the neighborhood. Here are some of the open houses/sites so you can plan your itinerary.
574 Summit Avenue: This 7,000-square-foot home is designed in the Renaissance Revival style and built in 1904.
60 Kent Street, St. John the Evangelist Espiscopal Church: Join a docent-led tour of this Gothic style church built in 1903 and attached to the orginal Cass Gilbert-designed Guild House (Gilbert designed the Capitol building).
537 Holly Avenue: Given as a wedding present from a husband to his wife, this Folk Victorian home was completed in 1883.
478 Holly Avenue: Built for a little more than $5,000, this Queen Anne Victorian home was built in 1887 for Milton Brown, a bookkeeper for the Great Northern Railway Company.
325 Dayton Avenue: This home was built in the early 1880s for Frank P. Shepard, one of the men who built much of the Great Northern Railway for James J. Hill (whose house also sits on Summit; regular tours available).
123 Farrington Street: Another Cass Gilbert-designed property, this Georgian Revival home was built in 1895.
260 Summit Avenue: James J. Hill gave this Georgian Revival home to his son as a wedding gift in 1903.
301 Summit Avenue: This is the site of the Volksfest Kulturhaus, or the Germanic-American Institute. Visit this site on September 19 and get a free beer ticket!
420 Summit Avenue: Help celebrate the University Club’s 100th anniversary. The club was modeled after the city clubs in London.
Tickets: $25 in advance/$30 day of the tour
