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2936 Portland Ave. So.
28 x 60 Frame dwelling
Owner: T. P. Healy
Architect:
Builder: T. P. Healy
B22718
6-12-90 / 9-1-90
Est. cost: $6,000.
I have been scrupulous in recording how Healy fills out the building permit in regards the lines Owner, Architect, and Builder. I have no idea why he chooses to put himself down as the builder on this house when he typically does not.
The southside gable end. Note the characteristic Healy curved second story wall below the gable end. |
Permit information:
3107 Second Ave. So.
30 x 50 Frame dwelling
Owner: T. P. Healy
Architect:
Builder:
B24747
3-30-91 / 6-1-91
Est. cost: $5,000.
Healy rarely built the same house twice. In this case he had the good sense to build the second across town from the one in Central, over North in Old Highland.
Permit information:
2932 Park Ave.
30 x 60 Frame dwelling
Owner: George F. Hitchcock
Architect:
Builder: T. P. Healy
B22071
4-23-90 / 9-1-90
Est. cost: $7,000.
What do we call this second floor porch ceiling structure? A diagonally projected conical porch roof? (An old picture of this house shows the original porch posts and decorative woodwork.) |
A lovely Queen Anne detail: the round porch corner below the upper porch. The wall of the second story is curved below the south gable end. |
The front gable end with false balcony. |
The typical two-door entrance. |
Permit information:
1425 Dupont Ave. No.
30 x 65 Wood dwelling
Owner: F. S. Stevens
Architect:
Builder: T. P. Healy
B22279
5-6-90 / 8-1-90
Est. cost: $7,000.
The house in Old Highland, even better preserved than the house on Park Avenue. |
The interesting second story round-on-rectangle window detail. |
This window dressing looks like the framing to a shrine. |
–A.C.
Permit information:
3127 Second Ave. So.
30 x 55 Frame dwelling
Owner: T. P. Healy
Architect:
Builder: Self
B21731
4-2-90 / 7-1-90
Est. cost: $6,000.
This was the home of J. B. Hudson, an important figure in the retail jewelry business in Minneapolis. Healy would build J. B. Hudson a second home on Lowry Hill in 1905. (Photo taken in 2011) |
The front gable end with the distinctive cap over the triple set of gable end windows. On the second floor, note the arched stained glass transoms over the rectangular window in the bay. |
Note by owner David Piehl: All of the jewelled glass windows in my house were stolen when it was vacant prior to my ownership…with documentation provided by Andy Gage, they were reproduced by Century Studios to look as close to original as possible(remember that Century Studios makes the finest Tiffany reproductions, experts have trouble telling they aren’t original). The piano window had been missing for so long that we had no documentation on it, same with the second floor arched windows. The piano window was created using a design Robert Quene created, and I bought a set of antique windows from Keith Miller that fit the 2nd floor; the person Keith purchased them from claimed to have salvaged them from a house across the street before the demolitions to make way for “progress”.
The house with new paint job under way (Photo taken in 2012) |
From 1890-1892, T. P. Healy builds the Queen Annes that we think of as his classics. My records show that he built 30 houses and a couple of barns during this three year period. Six of these houses have been wrecked, four for I-35. Minneapolis’s population had nearly quadrupled in the 1880’s; it was still growing. Twenty-three of these houses were built by Healy on spec; seven were built for clients. Only two were designed by architects; Healy designed the rest. Nationally, the American economy was heading for a bubble and a crash in 1893.
The building record for T. P. Healy reflects 15 houses and a barn built in the 1880s after his arrival here in 1885. Seven of these houses have been demolished, six by the construction of I-35 in 1959-60. There are undoubtedly more houses built by Healy during this period that have not been found. They may have been demolished. They would likely be in the Central or Whittier neighborhoods, or the Lake Street corridor from 28th St. to 31st St. If anyone reading this page is the kind of person who likes to dig through City building records, go find some more Healys.
–A.C.
Permit information:
3131 Second Ave. So.
28 x 55 Wood dwelling
Owner: T. P. Healy
Architect:
Builder:
B21410
2-24-90 / 5-1-90
Est. cost: $5,000.
The Healy Family lived here only two years, 1890-92. In the Healy Block literature, the house is called the Healy-Rea House |
The front gable end features a high-pitched roof and unusual window treatment. |
Note by David Piehl: “Those doors themselves are not original to the house. In the 1970’s this house was a boarding house, and the owner of 3127 (Adrian Sarff) took one of the original doors with him as a “souvenir” when he sold it to Bruce Grosklags. Bruce talked the absentee landlord of 3131 out of the doors there, and so for many years that set of doors was on 3127. The other original door from 3127 was removed from the basement when George & Andy left, but in the early 1990’s Andy helped me locate it. Some of the Sarff family stopped by to see the house in the mid 1990’s as they returned home from Adrian’s funeral. I was aware that they had the other door (made into a coffee table), and delicately suggested they contact me if they ever wanted to part with it. A few weeks later it appeared on my front porch with a note from them. A few inches at the top and bottom had been cut off, but Pete Holley made a near-seamless repair and I reinstalled them. The original doors for 3131 are badly weathered, but salvageable and are in my basement until the current or future owners of 3131 want to restore them.”
The classic Healy second story–the bay with an elaborately trimmed center window, the porch, the rich fretwork. |
–A.C.
Healy goes back to the Wedge to build what used to be a Queen Anne. Today, Healy’s design is visible only in the general shape of the house.
The front gable end showing new siding and windows in 2012. |
Permit information:
2639-41 Bryant Ave. So.
28 x 52 Frame dwelling
Owner: T. P. Healy
Architect: ” ” “
Builder:
B20046
8-22-89 / 10-1-89
Est. cost: $5,000.
Note that Healy uses uses punctuation to indicate that he is the designer of this house. The only time he does this on a permit.
Permit information:
1976 Sheridan Ave. So.
32 x 48 Frame dwelling
Owner: B. R. Coppage
Architect:
Builder: T. P. Healy
B18834
5-22-89 / 9-1-89
Est. cost: $4,000.
A The south side gable end. The top of the gable end projects out above the window, a common feature from this period. Note the window dressing, very elaborate, with the fancy corbel. |
George Orff, the architect, signed the permit. He was working as a City official at this time. |
Permit information:
3145 Second Ave. So. 30 x 50 Wood dwelling Owner: T. P. Healy Architect: Builder: B17515 1-18-89 / 5-1-89 Est. cost: $6,000.
|
The Tudor front porch and side porch were added in 1908 according to the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota brochure on the Healy Block. |
The south gable end. |
One of three original barns left on the Healy Block. |
In 1888 Healy built two Queen Annes side-by-side on the 2700 block of Aldrich Avenue South. Although both have been covered in siding, some details remain.
2745 Aldrich Ave. S. Healy’s Queen Annes of this period are typically twice as deep as they are wide. |
The south gable end. |
Permit information:
2745 Aldrich Ave. So.
27 x 57 Wood dwelling
Owner: T. P. Healy
Architect:
Builder:
B16779
10-13-88 / 12-15-88
Est. cost: $4,000.
The elaborate window dressing on the front gable of 2745. |
2747-2749 Aldrich Avenue S. We can’t see the detail on the front gable end, but Healy is not going to build identical houses next to each other. |
Unusual second story window detail. |
There are only two houses on the Healy building list from 1887: 3140 Second Ave. So. and 3142 Second Ave. So. This is where they sat from 1887-1960. |
The view looking north on the Healy Block from 32nd Street. At left is the strip of grass at the I-35W off-ramp. |
The site of 3106 Second Ave. S. |