Jan 01, 2009
2525 Lake of the Isles Parkway East, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2525 Lake of the Isles Parkway East Home History Edwin Lundie, 1953 One of Edwin Lundie's typically elegant houses, in the Cape Cod variant of Colonial Revival. The house, built of brick with a fading coat of white paint that creates a mottled effect, is large and complex in plan. Even so, it looks modest on the outside, where Lundie assembled the volumes in such a way that the house resembles a small village of buildings. LOST 1: The houses at 2505 and 2525 Lake of the Isles Pkwy. East occupy the site of what was once the city's largest and costliest house: the Charles Gates Mansion. The Renaissance Revival-style mansion was built in 1913 for the ill-fated son of John W. ("Bet-a- Million") Gates, a legendary businessman who made a fortune in barbed wire, railroading, and oil, among other enterprises. He acquired his colorful sobriquet after wagering a tidy $1 million on a horse race in England in 1900. Charles G. Gates seems to have inherited his father's flamboyance gene. After marrying Florence Hop- wood, Gates announced plans to build a "cottage" overlooking Lake of the Isles. Coming in at 38,000 square feet (larger than James J. Hill's mansion in St. Paul), the house was a stone palace outfitted with the best of everything money could buy, including what is reputed to have been the nation's first home air-conditioning system, installed by Carrier. Unfortunately for Gates, money couldn't buy him a reliable appendix, and he died, apparently of complications from surgery, before his mansion was completed Gates's widow, who must have been considered quite a catch, re- married in 1916 and moved else- where. A St. Paul physician, Dr. Dwight Brooks, bought the house but never lived in it. Brooks died in 1929. Once the Great Depression set in, there were no buyers for such a costly property, and the mansion was demolished in 1933. However, much of its deluxe interior was salvaged, including a marble staircase later installed in the Burbank-Livingston-Griggs House on St. Paul's Summit Ave. Citation: Millett, Larry. AIA Guide to the Minneapolis Lake District. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2009.
2525 Lake of the Isles Parkway East, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2525 Lake of the Isles Parkway East Home History Edwin Lundie, 1953 One of Edwin Lundie's typically elegant houses, in the Cape Cod variant of Colonial Revival. The house, built of brick with a fading coat of white paint that creates a mottled effect, is large and complex in plan. Even so, it looks modest on the outside, where Lundie assembled the volumes in such a way that the house resembles a small village of buildings. LOST 1: The houses at 2505 and 2525 Lake of the Isles Pkwy. East occupy the site of what was once the city's largest and costliest house: the Charles Gates Mansion. The Renaissance Revival-style mansion was built in 1913 for the ill-fated son of John W. ("Bet-a- Million") Gates, a legendary businessman who made a fortune in barbed wire, railroading, and oil, among other enterprises. He acquired his colorful sobriquet after wagering a tidy $1 million on a horse race in England in 1900. Charles G. Gates seems to have inherited his father's flamboyance gene. After marrying Florence Hop- wood, Gates announced plans to build a "cottage" overlooking Lake of the Isles. Coming in at 38,000 square feet (larger than James J. Hill's mansion in St. Paul), the house was a stone palace outfitted with the best of everything money could buy, including what is reputed to have been the nation's first home air-conditioning system, installed by Carrier. Unfortunately for Gates, money couldn't buy him a reliable appendix, and he died, apparently of complications from surgery, before his mansion was completed Gates's widow, who must have been considered quite a catch, re- married in 1916 and moved else- where. A St. Paul physician, Dr. Dwight Brooks, bought the house but never lived in it. Brooks died in 1929. Once the Great Depression set in, there were no buyers for such a costly property, and the mansion was demolished in 1933. However, much of its deluxe interior was salvaged, including a marble staircase later installed in the Burbank-Livingston-Griggs House on St. Paul's Summit Ave. Citation: Millett, Larry. AIA Guide to the Minneapolis Lake District. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2009.
Jan 01, 2009
Posted Date
Sep 17, 2023
Historical Record Date
Jan 01, 2009
Source Name
AIA Guide to the Minneapolis Lake District
