July 17, 2008: Summit Avenue East End/East Portland Avenue Architectural/House History Hike (St. Paul)

July 17, 2008: Summit Avenue East End/East Portland Avenue Architectural/House History Hike (St. Paul)

Join the hiking group for a hike along the east end of historic and quaint Summit Avenue, returning by way of the east end of Portland Avenue. Summit Avenue is one of the best preserved upper-class Victorian promenade boulevards in America. Summit Avenue is a monumental boulevard of houses, churches, synagogues, and schools that stretches four-and-one-half miles from the Cathedral to the Mississippi River. Summit Avenue was the abode of St. Paul's rich and famous, who, in the 1850’s, began ascending Summit Hill and erecting splendid homes as monuments to their success. Of the structures built, an assortment of Queen Ann, Romanesque, Beaux Arts, Georgian Revival, and Italian Villa styles, 85 percent remain intact. Summit Hill's first homes, built on scattered plots of ground, preceded the construction of Summit Avenue. Slowly, from 1856 to 1880, one new house per year dotted the hill. The architecture of Summit Avenue does not lack critics, however. Frank Lloyd Wright, for instance, assailed it for being "the worst collection of architecture in the world." Portland Avenue, paralleling Summit Avenue, also reflects upper class and upper middle class housing built from the 1880’s through World War I.

If Driving: From I-94, take the Dale Street exit and go south about one-quarter mile on Dale Street to Summit Avenue. Turn east (left) on Summit Avenue and continue to the intersection with Selby Avenue, right by the St. Paul Cathedral, 225 Summit Avenue, and park on the street. We will meet on the front steps of the Cathedral.

Interested hikers will reassemble for dessert or dinner after the hike at a nearby restaurant (Degidio's Restaurant, 425 West 7th Street (Corner with McBoal Street, one block West of Smith Avenue North.))

If coming by public transit: Take Metro Transit route(s): 63; 64; 69; 70. The closest bus service point appears to be, for route 63, along Grand Avenue, just south of Summit Avenue, or for routes 64, 69, or 70, the corner of West Seventh Street and Kellogg. Applicable Metro Transit Map or Applicable Metro Transit Map / Bus Schedule information

Map to the hike start point: 225 Summit Ave
St Paul, MN 55102-2117

Observations on Architecture along the Hike, Part 1

Observations on Architecture along the Hike, Part 2

Burbank-Livingston-Griggs House photos

Burbank-Livingston-Griggs House

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This webpage was last updated on June 24, 2008.