Sean & Emily's 60 year torch pass of Ginny's 1940 Brick Colonial
“RFP: What did you learn about the scarcity of original architecture in the TC?
”There are plenty of old houses in the Twin Cities, but most of them you walk in and see that they’ve been flipped or otherwise vandalized by people with poor taste. Other ones, you walk into & see “oh my, this has really been untouched” and they’re original but haven’t been maintained over the years. Very few, like Hillcrest, you see that they’ve been preserved and also cared for in a marvelous way”
Ginny secured the deed to her brick colonial in her 39th year, it was 1966 when her & Dick signed the deed of their hillcrest colonial. Acquiring the torch from the original owners who commissioned her build in 1939, this center hall example was stoic and well layed out for large family, multiple living rooms, a main floor sunroom, and a myriad of tudor era mosaic bathrooms.
Ginny wasn't aware at the time, but she would occupy Hillcrest for 56 years before handing the keys over to two bright young purveyors who genuinely are inspired to celebrate the history and style of Ginny’s birding & floral interior.
““We met Ginny the day after our offer was accepted, she softly exclaimed she’d woken up that morning feeling sorrow that she’d sold the house, but she was relieved to meet us and see the house was going to people who were so excited about celebrating it 💓.” ”
Buying in Rare Form is a program for all levels of architectural intensity. Like summer camp ⛺️, we have programming that satisfies the mild-casual on looker, & we have finite preservation purist prairie schools 🏫 : Emily & Sean sought out RFP to guide them to a home with original bathrooms & intact scarcities from the 30’s. Growing up in twin cities, Emily & Sean relocated home from California and shared a love for turn of the century original architecture.
Life in California was blissful and exuberant, running its course to the desire to plant roots back in Minnesota. After evaluating many estate level examples in Minneapolis, we altered course to consider St Paul, where we met Ginny & her center hall brick colonial. It was fate that these two would land such a stunning intact colonial with every architectural intention still in place.
Sean & Emily are great bakers, Sean in particular has an appetite for DIY restoration, hailing from a family of painters & tradesmen. Early on we saw Sean’s drive for restoration, which caused the discerning lens for which the journey led them to Hillcrest. The first phase is complete hardwood restoration in light prairie finish, next is pulling some color from Ginny’s timeless wallpapers and applying rich enamel to the paneling formal & informal dining, and the stairwell to the second story. Another project these two are eager to complete: converting their lawn to a native meadow via prairie restoration methods.
RFP: Talk about the journey of classic homes you saw, and how fate led you to Ginny’s on Hillcrest?
Emily: We ended up spending 6 months actively house hunting with Rare Form and learned a ton about classic architecture during our time touring houses with Georgi. Early on in our search, just the second time we met Georgi to look at houses, we saw a stunning classic home & fell completely in love with it. We offered on it, but because it was so early on in our search, we didn’t go as high as we could have & ended up barely losing out on that house in the bidding war. That was heartbreaking, but it gave us a good example of the level of classic architecture we were striving for.
We spent the next few months looking at houses that were close but not quite right for us. We came close to settling a few times, but Georgi encouraged us to hold out for excellence and we’re beyond grateful to her for that!
RFP: talk about the soundness of Hillcrest & what you saw that resulted in your decisive winning offer to Ginny?
When Hillcrest came on the market, we knew right away that it was special. It has the character and original architecture we were looking for, has been preserved and well maintained by the two families who have called it home so far, and was ready for some minor updates that would allow us to make it our own.
Our months of working with Georgi meant that we were able to identify this house as the gem it was, even though it hadn’t been staged and the floors desperately needed to be refinished, etc. It had aspects that reminded us of that first house we’d fallen in love with, but with details that made it an even better fit for us. It was exactly what we’d been waiting for!
With Georgi and Steve’s guidance, we made a strong offer and were able to win Hillcrest. We still can’t believe it’s ours and feel so lucky that Rare Form helped us find this special place to call home!
Congrats to these two, yet another educational journey that ended in a tearful deed passing from a wonderful woman of 60 years ownership, to these two newlyweds who are tracking for a life as fulfilled as Ginnys!!
