Over the years, adaptations have occurred to many different styles, including the Cape Cod and the Dutch Colonial. Locally available building materials, at attractive prices, were often the deciding factor in what was built. For instance, lime for mortar was not always available in some areas of New England, limiting construction with brick.
On the left is a photograph of the Ard Godfrey
house, which is the oldest standing house
in Minneapolis. The Godfrey house was built
in 1848-1849 using wood milled at the nearby
Falls of Saint Anthony. White Pine was the
material that was available in abundance
in the town of Saint Anthony. The pine boards used were from the White Pine logs floated down the Mississippi River by the millions. The logs came from lumber camps in the northern parts of the state set up to exploit this magnificent resource of pine. In short order, the lumber barons decended on the northern forests like a cloud of locusts and stripped the state clean.
The Godfrey house is an example of a broadsided (doorway centered on the long side ) Greek Revival house, and it is done with wood, not quarried stone as in a Greek temple. It has a classic doorway: a cornice over the front door and sidelights, pilasters at the corners of the house, and a gabled roof. It is painted in its original yellow color.
Locally, most of the homes inside the city limits of Minneapolis were built for the working classes. Only in areas around Lake of the Isles were neighborhoods deliberately designed for the elite. While there were a few people, such as Philo Remington, who completed plans for upscale neighborhoods around Lake Calhoun, these neighborhoods never became a reality due to lack of interest, land-title issues, and competiton from upscale, residential enclaves being developed farther west .
Select the following links to explore other housing styles that have influenced Minneapolis residents throughout the years or click here to go to the next page.
| Adams Colonial |
Bungalow | High Victorian Gothic |
Ranch or Rambler |
Tudor |
| American Mansard |
Eastlake | High Victorian Italianate |
Regency | Willlamsburg Georgian |
| Builder's Cape Cod |
Elizabethan Half-Timber |
New England Farmhouse |
Romanesque | Modern |
| Builder's Colonial |
French Provincial |
Pattern Book Square |
Saltbox | Prairie |
| Gothic Revival |
Garrison | Pennsylvania Dutch |
Spanish Revival |
Row or Townhouse |
| Dutch Colonial |
Greek Revival |
Queen Anne |
Split -Entry Raised Ranch |
Original Cape Cod |
Copyright, © 2005, by Dave Malas
