1425 Dupont Ave N
Minneapolis, MN, USA

1425 Dupont Ave N, Minneapolis, MN, USA

"The Frederick Stevens home is a large, elaborate example of the Queen Anne style popular in an extravagant, historic period, built for a northside resident and sawmill owner by a building contractor whose long Minneapolis career extended into the twentieth century. It is located in an area with several houses from the same period, lending a historic ambiance to the streetscape. And it is being restored by the present owners.

Elaborate and copiously ornamented, this structure exhibits six gables, a tower, five porches on three levels, four window treatments (sash, circular, transomed, pedimented), a bay roof in the Moorish style, and spindle work. Not extant are ornamental porch supports and balustrades, ornate porch and tower brackets, wood shingle roofing, the original decorative underporch latticework, and the patterned brick chimney.

Owner Frederick S. Stevens owned a sawmill located on the river at Plymouth Avenue. Apparently he had Joel B. Stanchfield, probably a mill employee, build a storage barn on the property in question in 1884. Stanchfield was a long-time Minneapolis, listed as a clerk in the 1859 St. Anthony and Minneapolis directory. He appears also to have resided with Stevens both before and (at 2946 Humboldt Avenue North) and after construction of the new house in 1890.

Dupont and Fourteenth Avenues North was on the edge of residential construction in 1890. Though across the street from the attractive Young House, the 1400 block was still largely vacant as was the area west to Humboldt. In a city flourishing with prosperity from a mature lumber industry, a member of that industry himself, F. Stevens, chose a well-regarded building contractor to design his conspicuous residence. Theron P. Healy is listed on the city’s building permit as the architect and listed in the City Directory as a building contractor.

By 1920 the Frederick S. Stevens House had been converted to a duplex, and to an eight-unit dwelling in 1960. The barn was converted to a six-vehicle garage in 1910 and torn down in 1962."1

1. Neet, Fred. Local Heritage Preservation Designation Study: Frederick Stevens House. Rep. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission, 1986. Print.

Property Description: Queen Anne; 2.5 stories; asymmetrical, cross-gabled, structure; dominant, one-story, wrap-around porch (east and south façade) with turned spindles; second-story open turret on southeast façade blends into house by a continuous roofline; projecting bay on the second floor of east façade features intricate detailing and opening for a picture window; opening encircled by transom light and curved sidelights; frieze encircles majority of the second floor, and is decorated with dramatic square, carved relief, dentil-like; this same relief pattern is seen over windows on all facades of the house, most prominently on east façade picture window surround

North façade features a prominent, two-storied, curved bay capped by a recessed porch; flanking bay on the east is a bracketed oriel window capped by a pediment; pediment is decorated, entablature, with turned spindle columns, and a transomed window

1425 Dupont Sketch from Old Highland Walking Tour Guide

1425 Dupont Sketch from Old Highland Walking Tour Guide

House Photo and Building Permit

Photo of the house at 1425 Dupont Ave N ca. 1918, and original building permit for the residents.