Minnesota Governor's Residence

The Minnesota Governor's Residence serves as the official home of the governor of Minnesota. The house, located at 1006 Summit Avenue in Saint Paul, is on 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) of land. The building is slightly more than 16,000 square feet (1,500 m²) in size.

The house was designed by Minneapolis architect William Channing Whitney for Saint Paul lumber businessman Horace Hills Irvine and his family. The 20 room English Tudor house has nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and nine fireplaces. The Irvine family lived in the home from 1912 until 1965, when the Irvines' youngest daughters, Clotilde Irvine Moles and Olivia Irvine Dodge, donated it to the people of Minnesota to serve as the official residence of the First Family.

The Minnesota Legislature in 1965 passed a law accepting the donation and designating the house as the State Ceremonial Building for official public use for state ceremonial functions and as a governor's residence. The law placed the house and its management under the jurisdiction of the Minnesota Department of Administration. From 1965 until 1980, governors were permitted to propose changes to the house. The Legislature provided renovation funds and the Department of Administration supervised the improvements. From 1965 to 1967, a committee assisted with furnishing the house, but the governor retained the authority to make changes.

Summit Avenue

Summit Avenue may refer to:

Summit Avenue (St. Paul)

Summit Avenue is a street in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, known for having a number of historic houses, churches, synagogues, and schools. The street starts just west of downtown Saint Paul and continues four and a half miles west to the Mississippi River where Saint Paul meets Minneapolis. Other cities have similar streets, such as Prairie Avenue in Chicago, Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, and Fifth Avenue in New York City. Summit Avenue is notable for having preserved its historic character and mix of buildings, as compared to these other examples, and it remains a well-preserved example of a Victorian residential boulevard.

Summit Avenue is part of two National Historic Districts and two City of Saint Paul Heritage Preservation Districts. The National Historic Districts are the Historic Hill District, an irregular area roughly bounded by Lexington Avenue, Portland Avenue, Dale Street North, Marshall Avenue, Pleasant Street, and Grand Avenue (exclusive of the area within the Woodland Park Historic District), and the West Summit Avenue Historic District, a narrow area running from Oxford Street South west to the Mississippi River along Summit Avenue. The city districts are Summit Hill, also known as Crocus Hill, a triangular region from Lexington Avenue on the west, Summit Avenue on the north, and the bluffs (just north of Interstate Highway 35E) on the south, and Ramsey Hill, the area bounded by Summit Avenue, Dale Street, Interstate Highway 94, and a line running north from the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Most of the houses in this district are large, distinctive houses built between 1890 and 1920.