Spacecrafting
649 Summit Ave
The 4.5 miles that make up the historic Summit Avenue—part of the St. Paul Historic Hill Preservation District on the National Register of Historic Places—features 373 of the street’s original 440 homes and is widely considered the longest stretch of Victorian-era homes in the country.
The only surviving French Second Empire-style home on the street, 649 Summit Ave. recently hit the real estate market for $1.195 million, listed by Kathryn Kennedy of Coldwell Banker Realty. It is the third-oldest home in the neighborhood, constructed in 1874 following the completion of the oldest remaining Summit Avenue home at 312 Summit Ave. in 1858 and the Burbank Livingston-Griggs Mansion at 432 Summit Ave. in 1863.
The home’s four bedrooms and four bathrooms are modest compared to nearby mansions such as the James J. Hill House, but its history is, arguably, equally as rich.
It was originally the home of Albert G. Manson, who represented St. Paul’s Fourth Ward on the Board of Education. At some point, it was home to John Hoxsie—who worked in the wholesale fruit business—and later Luman A. Gilbert, who was allegedly related to the famed architect Cass Gilbert. His work includes the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. and the state capitol buildings for Minnesota, Arkansas, and West Virginia.
John Kessler and Thomas McGuire purchased the home in 1919 with plans to establish a funeral home—Kessler and Maguire Funeral Home—in the house, but an outcry from neighbors led the Saint Paul City Council to pass a resolution prohibiting funeral homes in residential neighborhoods. Kessler appealed the case all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which upheld the council’s resolution.
Kessler and Maguire thus opened their successful funeral home at West 7th Street in 1926—advertised as “the most complete funeral home in the northwest”—and resided at 649 Summit Ave. until a year later. (Kessler and Maguire Funeral Home is still on West 7th Street!)
649 Summit Ave.’s fascinating history doesn’t end there. During the late 1920s and ‘30s, a grand opera and symphony conductor known as the “Maestro of Summit Avenue” reportedly opened a musical arts institute in the home. During World War II, it supposedly became a boarding house, after which two renovators restored the home to a single-family abode, which was later purchased by former Senator David Durenberger and his wife Susan Foote.
In 2004, the current owners purchased the property, determined to give it new life. They added modern improvements including a new roof, central air, rebuilt porches, an iron fence, a sprinkler system, new primary suite bathroom, new paint indoors and outdoors, a new garage, new water heater, new kitchen appliances, and a new washer and dryer.
Restoration on the home’s stained-glass windows, ceiling plaster, fireplace surrounds, tile, and Anaglypta wallpaper ensures its historic features will remain vibrant for years to come.
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Minnesota Historical Society
649 Summit Ave
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