The favored Summit Hill House Tour returns — finally — on Sunday.
“It’s been a 5-year hiatus,” says Monica Haas, executive director of the Summit Hill Association, the nonprofit that hosts the favored event
It was 2018 when people last got to tour properties on or near Summit Avenue for the event that is usually held every other 12 months to boost money for the association’s community projects and programs.
“We had planned our full tour in 2020, but that was the pandemic, so we ended up canceling,” Haas says. “We tried a virtual tour a 12 months and a half later, but there was not quite a lot of interest, so we ended up canceling that as well. This 12 months, all the celebs aligned to make it occur.”
This 12 months, there’s quite a lot of interest.
“Ticket sales are going crazy,” Haas says.
It’s not only post-pandemic excitement driving people to buy the $40 tickets.
“There are really great houses on the tour, many which have never been on the tour before, so it is going to be a probability for the general public to see homes that they haven’t seen previously,” Haas says. “We even have a pair on Summit which are really spectacular, from the Burbank-Livingston-Griggs house next to the University Club all of the solution to the Dittenhoffer mansion on the 800 block of Summit.”
There’s some literary interest on the tour, too.
“The home on Summit Court is rumored to be one among F. Scott Fitzgerald’s former haunts, supposedly a friend of his lived there. that they had a fairly great time as kids,” Haas says.
When it’s not on the tour, the home on Summit Court — designed by Cass Gilbert and tucked away near the University Club — is a short-term rental, for the reason that owners are currently living in and renovating a neighboring home.
Called the “Gatsby Getaway” on Airbnb, the home is currently listed at $790 an evening (the worth varies).
The homeowners, architect Jeff Wrede and Realtor Linda Wutzke, are former west metro residents who decided to make a fresh start in St. Paul after their nest emptied out. The homes on Summit Court are two of the various older homes they’ve taken on through the years.
“The explanation we like old homes is there’s a lot detail you simply can’t find in recent construction,” Wutzke says.
Prairie-Style gem
Down the road on Lexington Parkway near Summit Avenue, a Nineteen Twenties home on the tour has undergone greater than 20 years of nurturing.
The Prairie-Style house is in good hands with spouses David Heide and Michael Crull, who’re also colleagues and designers on the David Heide Design Studio.
There’s been loads of work done on the interiors of the house through the years including, recently, a blue-tiled bathroom renovation that shows how an area could be updated while reflecting the aesthetic of the house’s original time period.
But the general public might especially enjoy how the couple has reworked their backyard.
“Because we’re on a busy street, you may’t really park out front,” Heide says. “So, with an addition, the home has been reoriented to welcome visitors off the alley and thru the garage and that’s how we’re going to bring people in on the tour: They’re going to return up the alley and are available to the garage and see our vintage 1966 Buick that’s all shiny and turquoise, then they’re going to return into the backyard oasis and thru the back door, which is what we do, too.”
The yard isn’t only a transition, it’s a destination.
“Before, it was just form of scrub trees and a few bits of fence,” Crull says. “We reclaimed quite a lot of the yard by putting in a retaining wall.”
A screened, freestanding enclosure — their “summer front room” — is something that many Minnesotans might covet, especially during mosquito season.
“The little summer house pavilion within the backyard and a stunning brick terrace have redefined how we use the backyard,” says Crull.
Summit Hill House Tour
What: A self-guided tour of 13 mansions, churches, historic family homes, duplexes and streetcar apartments that provide a cross section of some of the well-preserved Victorian neighborhoods in America.
When: Noon to six p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 8 (11 a.m. for VIP ticket holders).
Tickets: $40 for general admission tickets; $135 for VIP tickets.
Info/tickets: Summithilltours.org