Purcell-Curtis House TODOTC.com To Do in the Twin Cities Places To See Purcell-Curtis House Date: Nov 9, 2024 2328 Lake Place Minneapolis, MN 55404 Phone: 888-642-2787 www.new.artsmia.org/art-artists/architecture/purcell-cutts-house

Purcell-Curtis House 

During the Pandemic E and I were looking for things to do. E went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) and found a list of great home designs in Minneapolis. So, since God forbid, we are around people, on a Saturday we drove around Minneapolis and looked at great home architecture of the past. One of the homes we drove past was the Purcell-Curtis House at 2328 Lake Place Minneapolis 55404. Don’t know where that is? Well, it’s a block from the triangle shaped park where we park, a block from Lake of The Isle for the Uptown art fair and have parked there for decades… LOL. 

Periodically the MIA will open some of the great architecture homes of Minneapolis to the public. The Purcell-Curtis House was open for a day in November, and we signed up and went for the tour. 

If you are expecting a grandiose mansion this is far from it. Think a 1920s Frank Loyd Wright home. But though it is also Prairie Style that Frank Lloyd Write made famous, it was designed by William Purcell & George Elmslie, the prior who ended up raising a family in the house. The house was designed without a buyer and Purcell ended up moving in with his family in the 1910s. The house is on the National Register of Historic places. 

Being a house of Prairie Style, the house is square and looks like it was built from building blocks. If you have ever taken the tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright architecture school by Madison, Spring Green WI, a mile from House On the Rock. You’ll learn how the block theory of design got into the prairie design. Frank Lloyd Wright was fascinated by toy blocks as the kid, and he had them around into his adulthood. He felt it the perfect basis for his design. The tour is a must see and only about thirty minutes from the WI Dells. And Purcell and Wright ran in the same circles in the Midwest and exchanged ideas. 

The house is not only of great design the lighting, windows and decor was part of the design. There is great use of natural light with dozens of windows designed just for that house. And no two windows are the same. The house is set at the back of the lot to make room for a reflecting pool and garden at the front of the house. All the windows point toward the street and to the back to not look into the neighbors’ houses. Throughout the house you will find the great works of craftsmen in many designs in wood, art. windows, interior and more. 

Since the house was built in the early 1900s it was a coal heated house, so we started the tour at the coal shoot which went from the entry stairs to the basement. We had a few limitations in the tour only one room was not open which is now occupied by architecture students to keep the house lived in and provide some level of security. 

We entered the house from the back porch. That porch over looks the back neighbors who’s front of their house is on Lake of the Isle. When the house was built then Lake of the Isle was little more than a swamp before it was dug into a lake. The porch is very open with some interesting, designed chairs. 

In from the back porch, we entered the kitchen. Which was open through the living room to the front of the house. Electric lights being a new invention the place was well lit with windows. Our tour group was about 20 people most aged 55+. We also had a great tour guide that told us of the history of the house and design. The center point of the house is a statue of a young man riding a goose taken from a favorite book of the family at the time The Wonderful Adventures of Nils by Selma Lagerlof. This is similar to Gulliver’s travels. 

Our guide spent ten minutes telling us about the living room. All the great art designed into the walls and the lighting systems design just for the house. They also had a baby grand piano to accent the room. Interestingly there was a little office area built into the living room complete with one of the rare windows pointing toward the neighbors so they could work at home if need be. There are bookcases all over the house and not a single TV… 

There is a huge painting of Purcell’s Maternal Grandfather next to the entrance. This is the man that exposed Purcell to nature and affected much of his design. 

The kitchen has changed little from the 1910s. The woodwork and kitchen table designed for the home shows the amazing craftsmen of the time. Again, unique windows are on every wall. Sprinkled throughout the house is old pictures showing the house in almost the same shape as a hundred years ago. 

The house is two stories plus a basement for heating. It was designed for a family with a maid, who had their own room. The old electrical fixtures are still in place. On the second floor is the sleeping area for Mr. & Mrs. Purcell, their son and adopted son, which caused an expansion of one bedroom. The bedrooms are open to each other with only three walls on each room. 

Instead of closets they stored their clothes in trap doors in the floor near the cedar wood. 

In the kitchen area there are two things that look like six-inch thumb tacks in the floor. They are used to open and close the door to the kitchen when your hands are full. 

The tour and history lesson took about an hour and costed $25 each. Contact the MIA for the next tour time. It’s a fun tour.

Contact us Dennis@ToDoTC.com