All the Pretty Houses

Back in the 1920s, William T. Middlebrook, then a vice president at the University of Minnesota, had a bright idea. In order to attract and retain the most talented professors, the U would build them a truly unique neighborhood. Thus was born University Grove: eight blocks on which more than one hundred homes, each custom built, represent a half-century’s worth of architectural history.

The streets of the Grove are a living study in strict adherence to various schools of design—Colonial, French Provincial, English Tudor, Prairie, and various strains of Modern—as well as experimentation with those styles. The original concept dictated that professors hire architects to design their homes on university-owned land, with university-subsidized mortgages. (The spending cap rose from ten thousand dollars in 1929, when the first house was built, to almost fifty thousand dollars in the seventies, when construction tapered off.) Middlebrook himself commissioned a Tudor that looks pretty much as it did in the beginning, stately and old-fashioned. In fact, Grove residents act as de facto preservationists. They must consult an architect if they wish to undertake major changes.

Most visitors will be drawn to the quirky Modern-style houses of the forties, fifties, and sixties. For instance, those who know only Ralph Rapson’s prominent public buildings, such as Riverside Plaza and the soon-to-be-demolished Guthrie Theater, can get an excellent view of the noted Modernist’s residential work at the Grove—he designed eight homes here during the fifties and sixties. Most of them follow the boxy white dictates of “high” Modernism, but they also have playful yet studied flourishes: a giant yellow dot on a garage door, various colored panels, and fences like billboards, placed to create particular visual effects rather than to keep anything in or out.

Architects Winston and Elizabeth Close left their stamp on the neighborhood as well. The celebrated couple built fourteen houses here, the first in 1939. Most feature natural elements, like cedar or redwood siding, and enormous windows that take advantage of the backdrop of the neighborhood, which stands lush and alive with greenery.

In the Grove, nature is nearly as important as artful design. As per Middlebrook’s vision, common areas full of large trees and gardens connect the backyards of most homes. Because the neighborhood was once an oak savanna, architectural looky-loos and dog-walkers alike crunch acorns underfoot in the fall. Folwell Avenue abuts a former trolley line that has been transformed into a rustic walking path leading to the U’s St. Paul campus. About a year ago, there was a move to update and widen the path, but it was voted down by residents. A reluctance to change is part of the charm of University Grove. It remains a time capsule, a place where modern conveniences such as vinyl siding are out of the question. Thank goodness for the quixotic notions of eggheaded professors.

—Jennifer Vogel


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