My Feature in the Star Tribune

302 Fremont Avenue, Anoka
302 Fremont Avenue, Anoka
It’s always nice to get a call to speak about the importance of historic home preservation. It rarely happens to be a feature article in a major local newspaper, so you can imagine my surprise when just that happened. The Star Tribune gave me a call about the Shaw-Hammons House in Anoka, pictured above, whose owner informed them of my historic home specialty in real estate. They wanted to know about concerns in preservation and saving endangered properties from demolition, and I was happy to let them know my thoughts on the matter.

This old Anoka house gets new lease on life, but others slip into history

Article by: Paul Levy , Star Tribune

Built in 1852 and owned by Minnesota’s first senator, the historic house in Anoka was in shambles. Junk cluttered the yard. Wiring had been ripped away. Rooms were coated in dust, gutted and vandalized. Even the bathtub was missing.The home was simultaneously listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Minnesota’s Ten Most Endangered Properties list. But today, after a renovation that took three years and more than $100,000, it is the oldest home in Minnesota on the market. Historic-homes experts call it a “miracle.”

With few preservation programs available, it’s also a rarity. Indifference from city officials, minimal grant aid and foreclosures have placed the futures of some of Minnesota’s most prized historic homes in jeopardy.

“It can take more than a century to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places and only a few minutes for that same house to be bulldozed,” said Realtor Jennifer Kirby, creator of the “Historic Homes of Minnesota” blog. 

Read more from the article…

 

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