Minnesota’s Own: Preserving Our Grand Homes

Stripped of its original Tiffany light fixtures, lamps, and stained-glass panels, a Lowry Hill mansion was returned to its original grandeur after an owner bought back many of these furnishings. A family in Winona has spent three decades slowly uncovering a landmark Victorian’s hidden beauty. Minneapolis graphic designers have meticulously restored a Frank Lloyd Wright gem, even fabricating never-before-built cabinets, furniture, and rugs Wright originally designed for the home. In Lost Twin Cities and Once There Were Castles, Larry Millett retrieved Twin Cities architecture vanished in time, giving us a view into buildings and homes lost to demolition, accident, and neglect. In Minnesota’s Own, he and photographer Matt Schmitt invite us into homes from across the state that have been lovingly preserved, saved so that they can remain jewels among the state’s living architecture. From Duluth to Bemidji, Red Wing to the Twin Cities, Millett and Schmitt travel throughout Minnesota, highlighting homes designed by architects such as Edwin Lundie, Frank Lloyd Wright, and William Purcell and Geroge Elmslie and with sumptuous ornamentation by local craftspeople including interior decorator John Bradstreet and woodcarver Johannes Kirchmayer. Homes originally owned by Daytons, Hills, and Ramseys find themselves in new hands that have taken great care in their upkeep and preservation. Minnesota’s Own welcomes readers into twenty-two of these homes through over two hundred color photographs and Millett’s captivating stories of their construction, original owners, and restorations.
Larry Millett is an architectural historian and award-winning writer whose books include Lost Twin Cities, AIA Guide to the Twin Cities, and Twin Cities Then and Now. St. Paul native Matt Schmitt has enjoyed a three-decade career in advertising, commercial, and architectural photography.

Publication of this book was made possible by a generous grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation in Janesville, Wisconsin, which is dedicated to the preservation of the Midwest’s architectural heritage for future generations.