Share what you know,
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Share what you know,
and discover more.
Nov 13, 2008
Who will save this old house?
Who will save this old house? by Jason Hoppin It’s a stately emblem of the foreclosure crisis. The house at 1750 Ames Place is among the oldest on St. Paul’s East Side, a nearly 3,000-square-foot Shingle Style 1890 home with a gambrel roof and polygonal tower. It once stood among farmlands, but by the late 1940s, it was surrounded by new, less grandiose homes. It now sits empty just off White Bear Avenue, like a forgotten treasure. “Could be a grand old house for somebody,” said Realtor Mark Wiebusch, who is listing the house for a bank after the former owners were foreclosed upon. At $219,000, the home — listed on the National Register of Historic Places and known as the Charles W. Schneider House, after a former St. Paul Pioneer Press bookkeeper — is a steal. “It’s going to require somebody who has a love for something like this to get involved with it,” Wiebusch said. Fewer than 100 individual St. Paul properties are listed on the National Register. The home also is listed with the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission. The house was built by the firm of Deeks and Witbeck, which built projects for many prominent local architects. However, the architect of the Schneider House is not known. Inside, much of the original woodwork remains, including a wide central staircase with two landings. Two original fireplaces (there are now three in all) also are in good shape, as are the stained-glass windows. But the home needs work. The kitchen was updated with Formica and linoleum, and some wallpaper choices leave much to be desired. In many areas, the woodwork, including the floors, could stand to be refurbished. And the distinctive shingles draped around the upper exterior of the home need to be replaced, a cost that could run as high as $50,000. Remarkably little has been done to the home over the years. Open a row of cabinets and you’ll find faded, typewritten labels for housewares. The roof was replaced in 1987 and a bathroom was renovated in 1996, according to the city. It’s not the first time the city’s architectural jewels found themselves in the throes of a bad real estate market. Amy Spong, a city preservation specialist, pointed out that in the 1980s, many of the stately homes in the city’s Historic Hill District were subdivided into rentals and the neighborhood riddled with crime. Spong likened it to the current situation in Dayton’s Bluff, another of the city’s six historic districts and one where home prices have plummeted as foreclosures have skyrocketed. In 2007, there were more than 2,300 foreclosures in Ramsey County, according to HousingLink, a Minneapolis nonprofit, and many more are expected this year. A recent report by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors showed St. Paul’s foreclosures are heavily concentrated on the East Side. Wiebusch figures it’ll be awhile before the home is sold, and for now he’s keeping the lights and heat on and asking police to keep an eye on the place. He’s looking for the right buyer, someone with conventional financing and a commitment to fixing up the home. Wiebusch said he gets a lot of interest, but few serious offers. “People come in and say, ‘Wow! What a great house! Oh, what a lot of work,’ ” he said.
Who will save this old house?
Who will save this old house? by Jason Hoppin It’s a stately emblem of the foreclosure crisis. The house at 1750 Ames Place is among the oldest on St. Paul’s East Side, a nearly 3,000-square-foot Shingle Style 1890 home with a gambrel roof and polygonal tower. It once stood among farmlands, but by the late 1940s, it was surrounded by new, less grandiose homes. It now sits empty just off White Bear Avenue, like a forgotten treasure. “Could be a grand old house for somebody,” said Realtor Mark Wiebusch, who is listing the house for a bank after the former owners were foreclosed upon. At $219,000, the home — listed on the National Register of Historic Places and known as the Charles W. Schneider House, after a former St. Paul Pioneer Press bookkeeper — is a steal. “It’s going to require somebody who has a love for something like this to get involved with it,” Wiebusch said. Fewer than 100 individual St. Paul properties are listed on the National Register. The home also is listed with the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission. The house was built by the firm of Deeks and Witbeck, which built projects for many prominent local architects. However, the architect of the Schneider House is not known. Inside, much of the original woodwork remains, including a wide central staircase with two landings. Two original fireplaces (there are now three in all) also are in good shape, as are the stained-glass windows. But the home needs work. The kitchen was updated with Formica and linoleum, and some wallpaper choices leave much to be desired. In many areas, the woodwork, including the floors, could stand to be refurbished. And the distinctive shingles draped around the upper exterior of the home need to be replaced, a cost that could run as high as $50,000. Remarkably little has been done to the home over the years. Open a row of cabinets and you’ll find faded, typewritten labels for housewares. The roof was replaced in 1987 and a bathroom was renovated in 1996, according to the city. It’s not the first time the city’s architectural jewels found themselves in the throes of a bad real estate market. Amy Spong, a city preservation specialist, pointed out that in the 1980s, many of the stately homes in the city’s Historic Hill District were subdivided into rentals and the neighborhood riddled with crime. Spong likened it to the current situation in Dayton’s Bluff, another of the city’s six historic districts and one where home prices have plummeted as foreclosures have skyrocketed. In 2007, there were more than 2,300 foreclosures in Ramsey County, according to HousingLink, a Minneapolis nonprofit, and many more are expected this year. A recent report by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors showed St. Paul’s foreclosures are heavily concentrated on the East Side. Wiebusch figures it’ll be awhile before the home is sold, and for now he’s keeping the lights and heat on and asking police to keep an eye on the place. He’s looking for the right buyer, someone with conventional financing and a commitment to fixing up the home. Wiebusch said he gets a lot of interest, but few serious offers. “People come in and say, ‘Wow! What a great house! Oh, what a lot of work,’ ” he said.
Nov 13, 2008
Posted Date
Jan 29, 2022
Historical Record Date
Nov 13, 2008
Source Name
Pioneer Press
Feb 16, 1984
Feb 16, 1984
National Register of Historic Places
Statement of Significance The Charles W. Schneider House, built in 1890 at 1750 E. Ames Place (Ames Place was then known as Stillwater Avenue), is architecturally and historically significant as one of St. Paul's most sophisticated and intact examples of a style which never achieved tremendous popularity here--the Shingle Style— and as the most architecturally significant house remaining from the Hazel Park development (1887) of St. Paul's Greater East Side neighborhood - an area which was not settled extensively until after World War II. The original owner of the house was Charles W. Schneider, a bookkeeper for the Pioneer Press Company, publishers of the major St. Paul newspaper by the same name. The firm which constructed the house was Deeks & Witbeck. The recently completed Historic Sites Survey of St. Paul and Ramsey County identified only a handful of houses constructed by this firm. Of them, all were built in 1890, and each was designed by a fairly prominent local architect. Unfortunately, the architect of the Schneider House is unknown, though it seems likely that the house was designed by a local architect who was somewhat familiar with East Coast architectural trends since the Shingle Style was fairly unusual in St. Paul, and particularly on the East Side. It should be noted that the house is not one of the earliest examples of the Shingle Style in St. Paul - several such examples date from the early to mid-1880's, but it is, nevertheless, one of the city's finest versions of the style.
National Register of Historic Places
Statement of Significance The Charles W. Schneider House, built in 1890 at 1750 E. Ames Place (Ames Place was then known as Stillwater Avenue), is architecturally and historically significant as one of St. Paul's most sophisticated and intact examples of a style which never achieved tremendous popularity here--the Shingle Style— and as the most architecturally significant house remaining from the Hazel Park development (1887) of St. Paul's Greater East Side neighborhood - an area which was not settled extensively until after World War II. The original owner of the house was Charles W. Schneider, a bookkeeper for the Pioneer Press Company, publishers of the major St. Paul newspaper by the same name. The firm which constructed the house was Deeks & Witbeck. The recently completed Historic Sites Survey of St. Paul and Ramsey County identified only a handful of houses constructed by this firm. Of them, all were built in 1890, and each was designed by a fairly prominent local architect. Unfortunately, the architect of the Schneider House is unknown, though it seems likely that the house was designed by a local architect who was somewhat familiar with East Coast architectural trends since the Shingle Style was fairly unusual in St. Paul, and particularly on the East Side. It should be noted that the house is not one of the earliest examples of the Shingle Style in St. Paul - several such examples date from the early to mid-1880's, but it is, nevertheless, one of the city's finest versions of the style.
Posted Date
Jan 30, 2022
Historical Record Date
Feb 16, 1984
Jun 01, 1890
Jun 01, 1890
Posted Date
Jan 29, 2022
Historical Record Date
Jun 01, 1890
Source Name
Minnesota Historical Society
