Lost Twin Cities 2: Lost Mansions

For over 50 years the great mansions of St. Paul and Minneapolis stood as monuments to the wealth of their owners and the success of their cities. But after World War II, all that was modern was embraced, and all that was old was now "old-fashioned."

The mansions were especially vulnerable during this time, and scores of them came down. A number of these architectural deaths were especially painful, for some were masterpieces of 19th century design.

There was, for example, the magnificent Wilder Mansion, whose three-story circular tower had loomed over St. Paul from Cathedral Hill since 1887. Designed by St. Paul architects William Willcox and Clarence Johnson, the great brick and stone house was built for Amherst Wilder, one of St. Paul's wealthiest men.

Larry Millett: "It was probably one of the two or three grandest houses on Summit Avenue-- the interior finishing of the house was splendid, most 19th century houses I refer to as "miniature deforestation projects", and this one had all of the elaborate woodwork that you would expect from a mansion of that vintage.."

There was oak for the front hall, bird's eye maple in the main parlor, and cherry in the library. There were marble fireplaces, beveled-glass mirrors, ornate plaster ceilings... all of which added to the house's aura of sumptuous Victorian overkill.

Soon after the turn of the century the mansions of Summit Avenue acquired a rather large neighbor: the Cathedral of St. Paul. The Wilder mansion thereafter became property of the Catholic Archdiocese. For the next 41 years, the Wilder served as the Archbishop's house until its last occupant, Archbishop Gregory Murray, refused to live there... "too ostentatious", he said. Soon after, the church decided to use the site for a new chancery building. So in 1959, the Amherst H. Wilder House, a priceless piece of Twin Cities' heritage, was torn down, its magnificent tower holding out to the last against the forces of destruction.

A similar history and fate was bestowed upon an even bigger mansion located on an opposing hill to the Wilder House. Built by Wilder's brother-in-law, the John L. Merriam House dominated a great row of mansions which enjoyed a spectacular view of the city from their front windows.

The Merriam house was a brownstone fortress, and its most powerful feature was a huge entry arch that cut into the house like the mouth of a cave. Details like the clustered columns, the bold geometric patterns, and even a grotesque winged dog who crouched atop one corner of the house helped to lighten the heavy design.

The architectural firm was that of Mould and McNicol, but the romantic touches suggest the work of the legendary Harvey Ellis, a master draftsman who floated from office to office in the 1880's.

Larry Millett: "Two of the great houses that Ellis probably had a hand in, in one sort or another, were the John Merriam house-- and the Samuel Gale house which was over by Loring Park in Minneapolis on Harmon Place.-- They're Richardsonian Romanesque in style, which is kind of a heavy massive, forbidding style. He was able to take that style and somehow make it more romantic, more passionate, more lively. And when you see a house that he had a hand in or that he's done you can really tell the difference."

In Minneapolis, few mansions could match the Samuel Gale House for sheer masonry muscle. Overwhelmingly solid, it was built of Sioux quartzite, a pinkish red stone from Southwestern Minnesota.

Larry Millett: "It was the hardest building stone quarried in the United States... it's no longer quarried, but at that time it was... and to look at that house and all of the elaborate stone work that went into it, it's really pretty amazing."

Ellis's drawings depict the Gale house as a fairy tale, and, in true castle-like fashion, it had an incredible tower topped by a cone of stone. Within, there was a huge 30 by 45 foot entry hall, which featured oak paneling, an alabaster fireplace, and a grand staircase.

Gale spent 100 thousand dollars on his mansion and claimed it was "built to last 100 years." Even so, the house lasted just seventeen years longer than he did, as commercial development advanced on Loring Park.

Back in St. Paul, the John Merriam House, like the Wilder mansion, found itself with a new neighbor in 1904, when the Minnesota State Capitol rose in marble splendor across the street. After Merriam's death in 1905, his wife Helen offered the house to the state as a governor's mansion. But the state turned it down and the house stood vacant until 1927, when the St. Paul Institute took over the house and turned it into a museum of Natural History. For the next 30 years, it was the destination for thousands of schoolchildren.

Larry Millett: "And generations of St. Paul and Minneapolis schoolchildren went into that building and I always kind of liked the idea of a museum being there, because it seems to me you've got a great lesson in science and architecture at the same time."

The Institute was later renamed the St. Paul Science Museum and later still became the Science Museum of Minnesota. But in 1959 the Museum moved out, and the old house, once spurned by the State of Minnesota, now fell into its hands. In 1964, the state demolished the mansion and replaced it with a rather dull but functional Administration Building. And so perished another irreplaceable piece of the Twin Cities historical fabric.

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