Eugene J. Carpenter House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Eugene J. Carpenter House
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The Eugene J. Carpenter House decorated for Christmas
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 Location in Minnesota
Location in the United States
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| Location | 300 Clifton Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota |
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| Built | 1887 |
| Architect | Edwin Hawley Hewitt |
| Architectural style | Georgian Variation of Colonial Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 77001566 |
| Added to NRHP | September 13, 1977 |
The Eugene J. Carpenter House is a beautiful home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was built in the Georgian Revival style. This house is located in Loring Hills, an area known for its large mansions.
The house was first built in 1887 by C.M. Douglas. He owned a coal delivery business. At first, the house was in the Queen Anne style. It had big porches and a round tower called a turret. In 1890, Harvey Brown bought the house. He was a successful businessman and banker. He lived there until he passed away in 1904.
In 1905, Eugene and Merrette Carpenter bought the house. They owned it until 1948. This time is important for the house's history. The Carpenters came from families who worked in the lumber business. They owned the Carpenter-Lamb Lumber Co. in Minneapolis. The Carpenters also loved art. Eugene Carpenter was very important in starting the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
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A Big Renovation
After buying the house in 1905, the Carpenters hired a young architect. His name was Edwin Hawley Hewitt. He had just finished his studies in Paris, France.
The Carpenters gave Hewitt a huge job. They wanted him to change their Victorian-style house. They wanted it to become a Georgian Revival-style house. One of the Carpenter's daughters, Olivia, said it was "about as different as can be!" She was 9 years old during the changes in 1906.
Hewitt worked very fast. He removed the roof and moved fireplaces. He built new foundations. He even moved walls inside and outside the house. He also rebuilt the carriage house from the ground up. The family was able to move in by September 1906. This was only 10 months after they bought the house!
Hewitt added some amazing new features to the house. He used a "French drain" system. This helps water drain away from the house. He also put in a new thermostat system. This allowed people to control the temperature in each room. Hewitt also designed a cool way to keep the house from getting too hot. He used large concrete porches to keep the inside cool.
A famous designer named John S. Bradstreet worked on the inside of the house. He worked with Hewitt and Carpenter. Together, they added the Arts and Crafts style to the home's interior.
About the House
The Eugene J. Carpenter House faces south towards Clifton Avenue. It has 14 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. The property is about one acre in size.
The main house is very large, about 12,000 square feet. There is also a carriage house. It is 6,500 square feet. All three of the original fireplaces still work. The gardens on the east side of the house are a special highlight.
Building an Art Museum
Eugene Carpenter, Edwin Hewitt, and John Bradstreet became good friends. They worked together on the house. This friendship continued as they helped create the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Bradstreet was the president of a group called the Minneapolis Society of Fine Art. This group was struggling. He asked Carpenter to join and help them. Their big dream was to build an art museum for Minneapolis.
Eugene Carpenter was a genius at marketing and fundraising. In 1911, he became the new president of the art society. He organized an art show. He personally invited 400 important businessmen to a special viewing. Every single one of them came!
From this, Carpenter started his plan to build a museum. He wanted it to be paid for by the public. This was a new idea at the time. Carpenter got a donation of land worth $250,000. This helped convince many businessmen to donate money. At one dinner, Carpenter hosted 200 local businessmen. He received promises for over half a million dollars!
The museum building was funded and built in 1915. Hewitt became the president of the new museum. Carpenter was the Vice-President. But their work was not done. The Minneapolis Art Society only owned 12 art objects. For the rest of his life, Carpenter worked to get people excited about art. He encouraged companies to donate. He also asked wealthy businessmen to buy art from all over the world.
Today, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts has over 80,000 art objects. More importantly, Carpenter helped many people in the community get involved. He started a tradition of companies supporting the arts. This has helped the art community in Minneapolis grow and thrive.
Changes to the House Over Time
The Carpenter family sold the house after Merrette passed away in 1946. The Mack family bought it. They divided the house into several smaller apartments. The Mack family owned the house from 1946 to 1963. During this time, the house was kept in excellent condition.
Famous People Who Lived Here
Many well-known families lived in the apartments at 300 Clifton during the 1950s and 1960s.
- John Warner, who was the President of Hanna Coal Company, lived there for many years.
- Forest Selvig was a main curator at the Walker Art Center. He later became a director at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He lived in the carriage house apartment.
- Richard Heiny and David V. Peterson were top designers at LaVoy's, a famous design firm. They also lived at 300 Clifton.
- Attorney Emerson Hopp lived in the house for many years. He is known for representing the Oglala Sioux tribe. He helped them with land disputes. He won $20 million in settlements for the tribes he represented.
- Oscar-winning actress Jessica Tandy and her husband Hume Cronyn lived in the house in 1963. They were in Minneapolis for the first season of the Guthrie Theater.
In the 1960s, the Mack family sold the house to the Klein brothers. They thought about tearing down the old house because it was falling apart. It's not clear how the house was saved from being demolished at that time.
A New Purpose: Office Building
In 1973, David Beide saved the house in a big way. First, he turned the house into an office building. Beide also owned the house next door, 314 Clifton Ave. This was the Elbert L. Carpenter house. He called both properties "Clifton Court." Second, Beide got both houses listed on the National Historic Register. This protects them forever.
Beide later transferred the property to his friend, Bill Urseth. Urseth greatly improved the property over the next ten years. He built a new building at 310 Clifton, between the two Carpenter homes. Together, all three buildings at Clifton Court housed 150 employees.
After Urseth sold the property in 1993, 300 Clifton remained an office for twenty more years. But it started to fall into disrepair again. Neighbors had to paint the house. They also had to rebuild a 20-foot retaining wall that was crumbling onto their property. A local neighborhood group, Citizens for a Loring Park Community, spent $30,000 to fix the roof. They did this to save the historic building.
