861 Snelling Avenue North
Saint Paul, MN, USA

861 Snelling Avenue North, Saint Paul, MN, USA

861 N. Snelling Avenue, Saint Paul, Minnesota

The information provided here is from the 1983 Ramsey County Historical Society and Saint Paul Heritage Preservation Commission Historic Sites Survey:

Date of site visit 2/8/1982 by Fieldworker: G. Whitney

The house at 861 N. Snelling Ave. is 2-1/2 stories tall, features a "hip and intersecting gable" roof style, "one interior brick" chimney and a "rectangular 1/1" fenestration design.

Other significant details: "Asymmetrical design, vertical massing. Fishscale shingles at attic level of gable ends. Stickwork at peak of gables. Brackets under eaves. Cornerboards. South facade has 2 story, polygonal bay window topped by a belvedere with turned columns and 16/1 sash. Open hipped roof porch (dating from ca. 1905) has tuscan columns.

Additions and alterations: "Windows replaced. Porch replaced ca. 1905."

Significant site and landscape features: "Opposite Hamline University. The house at 877 N. Snelling seems to be similar."

Legal description: "Lot 4, Block 6, College Place, Taylor Div. (now E. C. Lang's Rearrangement)"

Historical Background: "The building permit index card contains no original permit number, but does contain the pencil notation '1-7-90 E. C. Long' which may refer to the date the house was constructed, or the date of an addition or alteration may have been made. E. C. Long is probably Edgar C. Long, who owned E. C. Long and Company lumber yards, and who lived at 332 Summit Ave. in 1891-92.

Level of significance: "Local"

Statement of significance: "This large Victorian house was probably built soon after Hamline University's Old Main was built in 1886 and may have been the house of a faculty or staff member connected with the university. It is largely intact, except that the original porch has been replaced."

Sources of information: "1891-92 Polk's St. Paul City Directory. see Historic Sites Survey Architect and Contractor file."

History
Notes provided by Krista Finstad Hanson

Regarding the "Historical Background" from the 1983 sites survey form: The date of 1-7-90 from the building permit could refer to the date when water and sewer were installed in the house. The date of building for the house could very likely be early-late 1880s.

Regarding the Statement of Significance" from the 1983 sites survey form: Hamline University's Old Main (originally called University Hall) was built in 1880 and there was a fire in 1883 and the building was rebuilt in 1884.