In Case You Missed It...

Here is the text from the handout from the first in our lecture series, as presented by Ted Lentz:

Summit Avenue – A History of the Street
Discovering St. Paul’s Summit Avenue
Ted Lentz, AIA
27 Sept 2010

Can you imagine finding an American street that since the 1890s has been one of the nation’s major monumental residential streets? While in the 1880s and 1890s, 5th Avenue in New York, Euclid Avenue in Cleveland and Prairie Avenue in Chicago, Woodward Avenue in Detroit and Park Avenue in Minneapolis were recognized as their city’s “millionaire’s row” only one of those distinctly American streets not only remains intact but continues to thrive with renovation of the old and addition of new compatible structures?

Wouldn’t it be great to find an American street that provided a proud resource to all of the residents a metropolitan region of 3 million people speak of this street with pride using such phrases as “a neat street of beautiful old mansions”, “the place I always take my family and friends when they visit”, “I love that street”, “The street that F. Scott Fitzgerald used as a setting for his short stories”?

We would be delighted to find an American street established after the Civil War and largely complete by the end of World War I that had a Civil War monument one end and a World War I monument at its terminus

What if this remarkable American street were 4.7 miles long with over 400 building: homes, churches, four colleges, other institutional uses but no commercial buildings?

Can you imagine finding an American street where over half of 400 buildings are rated architecturally “significant”?

Wouldn’t it be great to find an American street that provided a central spine to the largest National Historic District ever recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior and is itself now protected by a strong active city supported Historic Planning Commission?

We would be delighted to find an American street after residents creating a restricted residential avenue prior to citywide zoning in 1917 had over 50 years of intervention by courts and city officials to reinforced the residential character of the street?

What if this remarkable American street continued to generate substantial private investment both by residents in their homes but by friends of the street in public amenities such as the $350,000+ privately raised in 2008 to complete the landscaping of a community park on the street?

Can you imagine finding an American street that retained its residential feeling even though every day by over 12,000 cars and at a least 2 historic tour buses every day?

Wouldn’t it be great to find an American street that had its own avenue residential preservation association representing all home owners along the street that served as an educational resource and as a vocal advocate for retaining and enhancing a street that residents reject the idea of creating a fossilized museum piece?

WELL - If you found yourself on St. Paul, Minnesota’s Summit Avenue you would find each of these unique characteristic & probably several more reasons for awe, delight and support.
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Summit Avenue, an important element of the urban character and a source of continued pride and delight for the greater Twin Cities Community, remains open to the public for review and delight.

Summit Avenue Residential Preservation Association (SARPA)