Honking House Posts

Will Duluth see more mansions on the hill?

Skyline Parkway - Richard A. Peterson Trust Land

It’s been five years since William Agenter built his high-profile home on Skyline Parkway. Although the mansion on Duluth’s western hillside was built legally on private land, some saw it as an intrusion on an otherwise woodsy section of the scenic drive perceived to belong to the public.

That controversy has come and gone, but another could be looming. Across Skyline from Agenter’s property sits 43.7 acres of wooded hillside, adjacent to popular hiking and biking trails, marked with Lynn Beechler Realty signs. Sale of that land to someone eager to develop more housing with expansive views of the city could happen any day, though the buyer would face challenges.

Duluth Honking House Hearing

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Did anyone go to tonight’s Duluth City Council meeting to watch the show as the council debated potential parking restrictions on Skyline Parkway near the infamous Honking House? (Back story found on this post, including a link for the even further back story.)

Or did you all stay home and ironically watch part two of Ken Burns’ documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea?

The council voted unanimously against the two resolutions.

Mansion on the Hill Controversy Continues

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Remember Beverly’s PDD post in April about the house that chewed its way into Duluth’s western Skyline?

There’s a resolution on next Monday’s Duluth City Council agenda requesting that no parking be allowed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on the pull-off area of Skyline Parkway near the house.

5 bedroom, 3 bath, view of bocce courts

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Several years ago I took my kids to the playground at Wheeler Field. We went into the clubhouse for a bit, and I read the signs that explain the history of the place and the Wheeler family. We went back outside, and I got into a time-traveling kind of mood, imagining moving away from the places I know for this vast wilderness, running a pioneer’s household without the help of other women, giving birth to babies here. This mind trip was made easier by looking at the huge, wooded hill behind us. “This is what it would have looked like to her, too,” I imagined.

But that’s not the case anymore. I was there on Tuesday, and saw this house being built. It’s too late for me to take a “before” picture, but I looked it up on google maps. I can’t see where the road to the house would be, but I guess it’s connected to Skyline.

I don’t usually feel like development is bad. My house is on developed land, right? Who am I to tell someone else they can’t have a house, too? But being witness to the first sticking-out-like-a-thumb house on this hill makes me sad. I suppose by the time my kids are grown, the hill will be full of houses.