Gross rotty mess...I'm not ready to talk about it.

I think the only things that are staying are the cute little sconce light fixtures.  Ugh...this room scares me.

Third floor apartment in the sky!

It's got humongous going for it.

It's got 80's rustic decorating working against it.

This kitchen doesn't look like much right now, but we've got some serious plans.

This bathroom is gone now.

I wasn't sorry to see it go.

Meh.

The space in between

I love James Records architectural design's in so many ways, but the switchback stair landing with a dramatic glass vignette reminds me of something my dad used to say all of the time.  "There is magic in the spaces in between".  As a little girl that phrase created habits like making wishes at midnight, or in stairwells or while driving through tunnels or crossing bridges.  As an adult it developed into an appreciation of the opportunities that only present themselves when you're "between" like when you're between jobs or your relationship ends or pregnant.  Times that could have been filled with such fear, uncertainty and tumult throughout my life have been met instead with a call to my spirit to pay attention, notice...and step into the currents.  Just like in the dream about the window.  I love that such a thought has a physical form in my home, a daily reminder of life's magic.  God, I miss my dad.

And this is where the lady will go.  This is going to knock my socks off every time I walk through my front door.

As if my socks weren't already being knocked off by the paneling and newel post.

This is the view as I walk out my bedroom door.  Hi Lady!

Longest hall ever.

We probably shouldn't be using the hall to store huge sheets of paneling that are full of nails should we?

Master Suite

The master suite is the full width of the house which is nearly thirty feet, divided by an arch.  It has a bump out with three humongous windows and two other huge windows as well.  It has the tiniest closet though.  Mint green and pink are not my colors.

Removal of linoleum from wood floors is not my favorite demo task.

We had a contractor look at the flooring and it's totally salvageable.  We don't even have to remove all of the black goo, YIPPEE!!

The top layers of painted wallpaper peeled off in giant awesome sheets.

I love the barbershop pole.

The thin plastic tiles, though...interesting, had to go.  There had been three kitchen "remodels" over the years, each adding a layer of wallpaper and various other layers.

The ceiling was originally painted a bright cherry red in the north half of the suite.

Paper is down in the North half and the walls are repairable.  The ceiling however fell one night when no one was around...fortunately.

The South half of the suite has four huge windows, an arch, and two doors.  There is very little wall space.

That means the paper stripping went quickly:)

Now we're ready to fix up the walls.

We find the strangest things...

A real pog.  Note that the cows are "inspected".  That's the good stuff. This was in the ceiling below the kitchen floor along with a lot of gross stuff I will not be blogging about.

The marble was in the basement in the "Club".

Minnegasco stub from 1967

 There was another kitty living here at one point evidently.  Miss Fluff will be furious.

 We even know what size the former owner wore.

 There was a WWII radioman living here.  This certificate was issued two months before the end of the war.

 This was in the naughty teenager's room on the wall.  It reads:  Time heals all wounds except where the love lance has cleaved the mighty cunt...nice.  I wonder what the scratched out word was under "love"?

 Chicken scratch.  Literally.

 Nice little card from Ron Gardenhire.

Evidently there used to be a cute little pharmacy where CUP is now.

no more.

A card for someone's mother...very sweet.

A little sad though

Did I mention that there was a teenage boy living here at some point?

Random things we found within the cracks in the walls:

Love this one.  The gold fish brings good luck in the form of tranquility, wisdom and long life. It is one among the eight sacred symbols of the Buddha where they represent fertility, abundance and harmony with the flow of life. Ancient Greeks believed goldfish enhanced good luck in marriage and relationships. In ancient Egypt goldfish were kept in the house as a lucky omen for the family and helped cheer up domestic situations.

 Some of my favorites among the the comic book covers from the 70's in the turret room:

This one will grace the very cool stick welder that was recently donated to the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center by Jim Ricci.

The Lady is OURS!!

Heather & I enlisted a fellow in the stained glass biz to look at the window to try to determine how much money it would take to restore & stabilize.  The amount he quoted didn't knock our socks off, thankfully, though it wasn't chump change. I  also consulted with my old friend John Campbell of Bullet's Stained Glass, whom I trust implicitly and who has a great reputation in stained glass circles. He also remembered seeing the window at Timelines in St. Paul, and remembered being very impressed by the quality and artistry.  He couldn't definitively advise how much work the window would need, but assured me that our purchase price was very reasonable for such a fine work of glass-art.

The next day I drove to City Salvage around 5pm. I was entering the store when a young man approached me and told me "We're closed." I explained that I made a special trip in order to purchase the Lady Descending and he excitedly said, I'll go get John!.(the owner).  A few minutes later, John sailed in the door (he was raising a pint at the joint next door). I offered him a price; he met me half -way & we shook hands. I promised to deliver the cash the next day. And I did. And I have the receipt to prove it. Our muse will be decending the grand stairway at 3724 Park before too long.....we just need to safely move her to John Campbell's beautiful studio in (very) rural Wisconsin so he can work his magic. Yippee!!!!

House History

Hello Ladies!

 

As always, it was wonderful spending time with you this past Saturday. As if I wasn't already excited about 3724 Park's future, now knowing the level of detail involved in your restoration plans...well...I'm literally GIDDY!

 

Speaking of 3724 Park's future...it's time to talk a bit about it's PAST! I did a little bit of research Saturday night and Sunday morning and was able to dig up some good, old-fashioned juicy history goodness.

 

So, before I talk about what I just found out this weekend about the original family who lived in 3724 Park for nearly 30 years, I'll re-fresh your memory (just for fun) about the architect and real estate developer (Samuel Glading) who are responsible for 3724 Park's existence in the first place (and who was the original owner-occupant of Tom and Gary's house). Here's what I wrote for the Minnesota Historical Society's Placeography website: http://www.placeography.org/index.php/Samuel_Glading_House%2C_3624_Park_Avenue%2C_Minneapolis%2C_Minnesota

 

In case you are curious after reading the MHS Placeography entry, I made a mistake in the entry when I said Glading developed only SIX houses...he actually developed SEVEN on the 3600 and 3700 blocks, which were (in no particular order, other than linear): 1) 3624 Park (Tom and Gary's), 2) 3744 Park (white Healy on the northwest corner of 37th & Park), 3) 3649 Park (Kim and John's), 4) 3724 Park, 5) 3732 Park, 6) 3744 Park, and 7) 3748 Park. He obviously did fairly well for himself.

 

As for James Record: as I am sure I probably told you, he designed at least SEVEN known homes along the stretch of Park Avenue from 28th St. to 38th St. Of those seven, THREE of them were for Samuel Glading.

 

OK...now, on to what I found out this weekend about the original owners of 3724 Park:

 

• 1900 Census shows George Alfred Parkhurst as living at 3724 Park. George was a conductor for the railroad. The census indicates that he rented the house in this particular year, which leads me strongly to believe that Samuel Glading, who was living in Tom and Gary's house at the time (just a half-block away) likely continued to own the house for a couple of years after he had it developed and probably rented it for the short time he lived on Park Avenue (see link above to find out why and when he moved out of Tom and Gary's) house. I suspect this to be the case because in the 1910 and 1920 census, the Parkhursts were still living at 3724 Park, but in both years it said that they owned it.

• Back to the 1900 Census: It showed that George Alfred Parkhurst (age 45) lived here with his wife Emma Jane (age 45) and their three children as folows:
• Howard ("Harry") Capron Parkhurst - 12 yrs old
• Chastina J. ("Chattie") - 10 yrs old
• Shirley - 1 yrs old
• The Parkhurst family continued to live in the house through the 1910 and 1920 censuses. It appears that, according to death records, George died in 1928 at age 73 (and is buried in the Mendota Heights Cemetary). It is my guess that at this time (1928) Emma Jane sold 3724 Park, because for the 1930 census (she would have been 75 by this time) she is listed as living in a retirement home in Bloomington. She died in 1936 and is buried in the same cemetery as George.
  
• Here is the breakdown of  George and Emma Parkhurst's decendents: 1) son Howard ("Harry") Capron Parkhurst had two children: Robert Capron Parkhurst and John Holand Parkhurst. They appear to have been twins: both born 1920 and, strangely, both died 1997. Robert had a daughter, Debbie, who would be George Parkhurst's great granddaughter. I was able to trace, through family trees on Ancestry.com that this great granddaughter, Debbie Parkhurst, appears to live in Homosassa, FL, and is approx. 55 yrs old.  2) daughter Chastina J. Parkhurst never had children.  3) daughter Shirley Parkhurst never had children.

 

OK...now, this is REALLY crazy...but it just so happens that George Parkhurst was born in BERLIN, WI, which is the tiny little town in the eastern portion of WI (in-between Green Bay and Milwaukee) that I'm from! Crazy, huh?

 

Anyway, since the Parkhursts clearly lived there for decades (at least 20+ years from what I can verify), the chances seem very good to me that if you are able to track down a descendant that someone, somewhere in that family has photos of the family and of the house. Clearly they loved their house to stay there that long, and they probably had money, too (so they likely had a camera or means to pay photographers), so it just seems like if you can track Debbie Parkhurst down that you may strike gold. And even if SHE doesn't have any photos, she certainly may be able to refer you to other family members who would. Almost every family has some family historian!

 

Exciting, huh????

 

Can't wait to keep hearing about and seeing the progress!

 

-Ryan

Tree removal

One of the big issues that needed to be resolved was the tree root problem on the north side of the house.  You can't see the roots coming through the foundation yet, but they are perilously close and have the potential to cause some serious problems -- Enter your friendly neighborhood arborist...

who balances precariously on the overgrown weed in the narrow space between the houses...

until...(I'm really glad I took a picture of that broken shingle on the house next door before)

Whoops?!  Cheryl had been peering out this window just seconds before.  She was showered with glass, but not in the face at least...the perils!