Architecture Posts

Morgan Park church wins place on national registry; highlights historic Duluth properties tour

United Protestant Church member Bob Berg, left, Moderator Marna Fasteland and Pastor Mitch Nelson stand in a back balcony inside the church sanctuary. The Morgan Park church was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

A monumental concrete block church constructed by idle steelworkers in early 19th-century Morgan Park earned national recognition last month and will be a stop on a historic building tour this weekend in Duluth.

Duluth’s Ten Most Endangered Places in 2024

The Duluth Preservation Alliance has announced its 2024 list of the ten most endangered places. The list includes buildings with active plans for demolition, properties with uncertain futures and underrecognized places with overlooked history that might be vulnerable to future threats.

Tour of Superior’s Roosevelt Terrace offered Nov. 18

The Superior Telegram reports that a tour of three of the historic townhouses that make up Roosevelt Terrace in Superior will be held on Nov. 18. The event is a fundraiser for the Douglas County Historical Society and a school project for two Glenwood City High School students.

Roosevelt Terrace was designed by Carl Wirth and built in 1890.

Gunnar Birkerts and Intuitive Synthesis: The Place of the Duluth Public Library in the History of Modern Architecture

Duluth Public Library in the November 1980 issue of Architectural Record.

Last month, an article appeared in the Duluth News Tribune about the decision to demolish the Duluth Public Library and replace it with something smaller in a shared building. The reasons provided for demolition instead of restoration mostly involve challenges to reprogramming and subdivision created by structural pillars, expensive building systems like insulation in serious need of replacement, and other issues related to years of deferred maintenance.

Rebuilt Civil War veteran’s house part of historic properties tour

Diane and Steve Dick stand outside their renovated home on 43rd Avenue East and London Road. The home was built in 1889 by Civil War veteran John Mallman and will be featured on the Duluth Preservation Alliance Historic Properties Tour this Sunday. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)

A long abandoned duplex in Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood was a complete wreck that showed no sign of its historic past when Steve and Diane Dick purchased it. Their simple renovation plan was to make room for an aging parent and host regular gatherings with their children and grandchildren.

Eight years on, the project has accomplished all the necessary family duties and more. The house stands out among its stately London Road neighbors and keeps an important piece of history alive: its original owners were Civil War veteran and early mining-exploration Captain John Mallman and his wife Catherine.

Why Frank Lloyd Wright designed a gas station in Cloquet

American architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright designed many famous buildings, museums and houses — including a gas station in Cloquet. Twin Cities Public Television Reporter Kaomi Lee explores the architectural destination in this video.

Duluth’s historic Wirth building gets facelift

The historic Wirth building, 13 W. Superior St., at left, received a major facelift this month. Owners said more than 30 splaying limestone blocks were replaced or repaired. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske).

A historic architectural gem in Duluth received a major facelift this month as crews repaired the aging facade of the city’s first pharmacy — a building that now serves as home to a couple that pioneered downtown living in the 1990s.

Mid-century modern work highlighted in Duluth home tour

The Hart House at 1545 Skyline Drive soon after construction was completed in 1952. The Chester Bowl ski jump can be seen in the background to the left of the house. (Photo courtesy of Aethan Hart)

The legendary Frank Lloyd Wright may not have been the architect but his influence is all over a striking little house tucked into a wooded lot just around the bend from Chester Park.

Known as the Hart house, the property at 1545 Skyline Parkway will be one of six featured homes in the 2022 Duluth Preservation Alliance Historic Properties Tour beginning at 11 am Sunday, Sept. 18. The annual event allows ticket holders to roam around inside some of the most beautiful homes in the city, this year featuring a collection of unusual mid-century modern works.

Duluth’s Ten Most Endangered Places in 2022

The Duluth Preservation Alliance has announced its 2022 list of the ten most endangered places. The intention is to raise awareness about historic properties that are likely to be lost. The organization previously released endangered properties lists in 2021 and 2017. An interactive story map for the 2022 list is available at arcgis.com.

A look at the two-level infill house in West Duluth

Enter, a digital biweekly publication from the creators of Architecture MN magazine, takes a look at “a new prototype for building affordable houses on narrow lots in Duluth.”

Former ‘RecyclaBell’ recycled into apartments

Developer Mike Poupore stands outside the historic Northwestern Bell Telephone building at 1804 E. First St. The building housed the RecyclaBell all-ages music venue from 1993-1997. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

A look inside a newly-restored building that helped foster the 1990s Duluth indie rock scene is featured in a series of historic property video tours launched on the internet this week.

The Duluth Preservation Alliance explores changes in five iconic properties that once served city businesses and local government during a 2021 Virtual Historic Properties Tour available now on its website. The project provides a first look inside the newly remodeled Northwestern Bell telephone exchange building at 1804 E. First St. — which later housed an unlikely but locally significant music venue called the RecyclaBell from 1993 to 1997.

Duluth’s Ten Most Endangered Properties in 2021

The Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railway Dock #5 has not been used since 1985. The Duluth Preservation Alliance has listed it as an endangered property. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)

A slowly disappearing neighborhood rich in Native American history, a large building once home to a radical labor college and an iconic, unused iron ore dock are included in a list of places historians fear may disappear from the Duluth landscape.

The Duluth Preservation Alliance released a Top 10 Most Endangered Places list during an event outside the soon-to-be demolished Esmond Building in Lincoln Park Saturday, Sept. 25. The list, regularly compiled by the group, is designed to raise preservation awareness and encourage the reuse of historic properties.

Duluth’s ‘Mushroom House’ looks for new owner

The “Mushroom House” near the University of Minnesota Duluth is for sale. (All photos via realtor.com)

When it comes to houses, Duluth is noted for the grand, turn-of-the-century mansions clinging to the Lake Superior shoreline or more modern places with stunning hilltop views but there are unique gems sprinkled throughout the city and one of them is on the market.

“The Mushroom House,” located at 1401 Mississippi Ave., just northwest of the University of Minnesota Duluth campus, was listed for sale Aug. 9. The five-bedroom, three-bath home was built in 1971 in a striking triple-dome shape that seems to grow out of its wooded, half-acre lot. The listed price is $279,900.

CBS Sunday Morning: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mäntylä House

A piece of Cloquet history popped up on CBS Sunday Morning today, but it’s in Cloquet no more. Mäntylä House, designed by visionary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, has been rebuilt at Polymath Park in southwest Pennsylvania. In the video, CBS Correspondent Lee Cowan talks with the park’s proprietors, and with the Minnesota couple whose home was moved, piece by piece.

Congdon Park’s historic Millen mansion gets needed overhaul

Tom Buresh and his terrier-dachshund mix, Evealine, pose on a hill outside the historic Millen mansion on Vermilion Road. Buresh and his wife Debra purchased the home in October 2017 and are restoring the property. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).

Tom Buresh likes to say that shortly after he bought one of the most glorious and historic mansions in Duluth a neighbor told him it came with 40 years of deferred maintenance.