Swan Lake of 1916
two former 1925 leasehold stewards, turned 1916 craftsman owners-of-record
Alex & Owen. Where do we begin. It was 2015, Rare Form was in the midst of completing the initial boxcar revival on our 1925 Phelps Park craftsman. These two were arriving fresh from Fargo, NoDak in search of an urban apartment.
Alex & Owen brought an immense appreciation for golden era architecture, the antique vintage aura was present in their initial vibe, entering the apartment amidst orbital sawdust clouds as we gleefully restored the millwork with much enthusiasm on our depression era torch passer! (photo below is them cackling at my terrible attempt to perform tiki cocktails)
The unit was in its early stages of remodel, and Alex was full-on signing. The wallpapered entry from early 50s became the backdrop for her annual Halloween parties for many falls to come. Many of her college friends would visit for the weekend, which began a flat roof trespassing routine for early rebel photo-shoots complete with cheap bubbles on the parapet caps.
This kitchen chandelier was posted by Alex as soon as she arrived in her craftsman apartment in 2015, the brass glow was love at first sight, and began her quest to secure a Stickney era bungalow of her own.
Alex expressed early-on her desire to capture a bungalow of her own. The inspiration was two fold: she majored in accounting with a minor in the arts, so wealth creation was a must. Secondly, restoration allows for creative expression and the ability to choose a palette that expressed her own artistic eye.
“My appreciation of early American architecture: my Dad was a big FLW fan. We would spend family road trips driving through neighborhoods and looking at old homes or touring them.”
Enter Swan🦢Lake: a loved two story 1916 arts & crafts that possessed raw talent but much needed the artful eye of a bold curator.
Swan’s millwork is truly special, a testament and stronghold of early craftsman era (1916). Securing a pure cherished craft era home is becoming increasingly challenging*, (this scarcity will contribute to future collectable intrinsic scarcity) fueled heavily by the recent HGTV culture- which encourages the paint-it-white execution style defacing of these original sears era craftsmans.
The urban sprawl of Fargo heightened Alex’s appreciation for craft era distinction, and the detail that has since been lost in suburban america was something she wanted no part of as they packed their cars for Minneapolis in 2015.
“Also, growing up in Fargo, where the city was growing so fast, there was a lot of cookie-cutter developments. They were awful for the landscape, their soullessness made me appreciate the unique craftsmanship of older architecture.”
I reached out to Alex early on, conveying the purpose of the Purveyors Post. She was clear as day, “I want to provide candid and helpful advice to those taking the leap from apartment rent to their first home.” It was evident that she put thought into it, albeit during a Sunday dim sum session with Owen.
The Evenson’s Cliffs notes of first time buying:
Buy a house that excites you, not the boring one that is usually the cheapest
Buy a house that meets your current needs, you can always move.
People will try to give you their two cents on where you should live, listen to what you want
Don't be afraid to use color!
“Owen has been a great partner in crime our home journey, he deserves credit for a good percentage of the projects we’ve tackled together. But I’ve got to say, some of my favorite social moments are when someone assumes Owen owns the house, when Owen gives me the credit, like a true gentleman. ”
Kitchen before they completed the budget-less DIY detailing.
“I didn’t have much fear of owning. Maybe that’s atypical... My parents were very young & only rented homes/apartments until I was a teenager. That bothered me that they were ‘throwing’ money away, so I always wanted to own a house as soon as I could financially. Plus, there was the creative itch of wanting to make a house my own.”
Regarding their roots in our 1925 boxcar apartment:
Living at Chicago was inspiring, I loved that apartment. It was refreshing to be in a space where the historical attributes of the apartment were preserved, rather than cheaply modernized.
I also feel fortunate to have landed in South Minneapolis, since I wasn't familiar with much of Minneapolis upon moving here after college.
A year after moving into Chicago, I started getting starry eyed at all the homes for sale surrounding the apartment that had so much character+potential.
When I realized owning would be of similar cost to renting, the house search ensued.
“Lighting has always been very important to me. I'm a lover of fixtures + lamps and mood lighting. Supposedly some of my first words as a child, among saying mom and dad for the first time, was whispering 'pretty light.' That's either really adorable or creepy, depending on how you want to look at it. We learned quickly that magical lighting is not cheap lighting. Owen rewired both the chandelier in the kitchen and the chandelier in our bedroom upstairs. He was heading to visit his sister in Iowa and figured he would take a look on Craigslist for cheap/historic lighting...it ended up paying off. He met a character in his garage in small town Iowa - I think he bought both those fixtures for ~$100.”
The consistent debate of Renting vs. owning: I'd say it's a good rule of thumb to have $10k in savings for who knows what: after all is said and paid at closing.
The water line break was the biggest surprise cost I've endured so far (~$7k), which had to be dealt with immediately. The first couple times things like this happen, it's shocking. After a couple years in this house now, I've started to accept it more as intermittent repairs and maintenance.
There's always something.
Alex’s thoughts on renting into ownership:
Yardwork is another big difference from renting that might not seem like a big deal, but it can be time consuming (depending on the yard). Be realistic with yourself about the amount of time you want to spend mowing + shoveling + weeding etc.
The corner lots we looked at seemed to be priced slightly lower, but we were pretty certain that's something we didn't want to deal with - All the extra stress/maintenance of owning (vs renting) is balanced by the fact that you own a house. Plus, you can think of these costs as investing into the value of the house.
“the ceiling in our bedroom was the definition of 'opening up a can of worms.' What was supposed to be a quick ceiling tear down to replace sagging plaster uncovered bowed ceiling joists which needed to be replaced. Good ol' Kevin was going to help us replace the joists but refused to until the scary, original electrical was replaced. Long story short, we spent 3x as much as we originally planned and had to live in a dusty guest bedroom for a couple months, until we could sleep in our intended bedroom with a ceiling. I've never been more thankful for a ceiling.”
This photo sums up the summit reaching attitude of these two, the percentage of 25 year olds that want to have deeded ownership of craft-era-capsules, its our daily mission to create an culture prided on a storied tradition of architecture, moreover than the question of heated parking and common room developer amenities….
The present February 2020 detail is a full dining hall restoration: complete wirh new plate rail, and full paint stripping to revive their white oak buffet, the centerpiece of Swan Lake will be hosting cocktails right before tax season!
Alex and Owen congrats on your accomplishments and thank you for your dedication to Powderhorn and the Arts & Crafts time period.
