Postcard from the Bellows restaurant in Duluth
The Bellows was a fine dining restaurant and cocktail lounge that operated at 2230 London Road from 1969 to 1997. It was founded by Don M. and Verna Bellows, and the round-shaped design came from architect Robert W. Prestidge.
Charles Lemon was the owner when the restaurant closed. He sold the building and bought the Casa de Roma restaurant at 610 E. Fourth St., which he turned in C.W. Chips. That restaurant closed when the building was sold to the Whole Foods Co-op.
Elysium Salon & Spa occupied the former Bellows building from 2000 to 2012. Liberty Wealth Management of Raymond James presently occupies the space.
The Bellows building, in its colors, round front, and use of vertical lines along the exterior, reminds me of the Essentia Health Building at 330 E. Second St. That building was constructed just two years after The Bellows, but when I tried to figure out if the same architect designed it, I could only find this rather cryptic statement:
Does anyone have any information that would either confirm or reject the relationship between these two buildings?
Verna Bellows was my great aunt on my mom’s side. I don’t have a ton of memories of it as I believe she had already sold it by the time I came around. I do remember being told that she was the founder and original owner of the Edgewater hotel next door.
I just stumbled across this and got a good laugh. That’s my dad – Don Brandt as chef. I remember helping make salads for dinner and sitting at the bar to drink Shirley Temples! That’s hilarious!!!