Article from Star Tribune - 2009

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http://www.startribune.com/local/70ll 5882.htm1?e1r=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDi07aiU Page 2 of 3 _ �L ,��:.._�.:.�;�. • � Point your StarTribune�� mobilebrowserto I�ttp:f/startribune.com renovate the house, hiring the same architect�vho Pillsbury, who served in the state Senate for 12 worked on the restoration of Ellis Island and years, said that when he was a teenager, he and Grand Central Station. The property, which his sister would go riding first thing in the includes formal gardens,a pool,tennis complex, morning. Then he would come home, play a round tea house, caretaker's house and greenhouse, of golf, sail and finish the day by playing tennis. was on the market for$53.5 million last year but did not sell. Hennepin County tax records give the °There were not many houses west of Brackett's estate a market value of about$15.1 million,with Point," he said. "You had to go up to Mound to find property taxes of almost$179,000 a year. more houses." Steeped in history Southways is in Orono, where Jim White is mayor. Properties like the old Pillsbury home add to the Homeowners with names like Dayton and Cargill character of the eity, he said. were already living on the lake when Southways was finished in 1919 as a summer hoine for John "[t's not just cookie-cutter," he said. "Sometimes S. and Eleanor Pillsbury. Hammel writes that you drive around and you have no idea if you're in Eleanor, who died at the home in 1991 at age 104, Crystal or Eden Prairie. It's nice to have these fought with the architect to make sure sleeping things around that speak of our past." porches were added to the second floor. There are perhaps a dozen estate properties left The family began living in the house year-round in in Orono that range up to about 30 acres in size, about 1930, George Pillsbury said. He re�nembers said Mike Gaffron, assistant city administrator. a house that, despite its grandeur and formality, The city doesn't encourage subdivision of lots was very much a home for a family with six kids. and has kept its�ninimum lot and lakeshore sizes He and his brothers cleared snow on the frozen unchanged since 1975. lake to play hockey. The big properties keep "that rural flavor that the "It was a wonderful house to live in. We used to city has had for decades," Gaffron said. "One of entertain all the time," he said. "People would the great challenges if the owner or developer come to spend the weekend. ... In the wintertime, chooses to subdivide is doing so in a way that people would come out and skate, and mother retains the context of the site, so it retains the would serve tea in the living room." feeling of a grand home on an estate property." Servants did the laundry and cooking. George George Stickney, a real estate agent who has sold Advertisement �� Packa es _ � Per �� Starting , � �� 1 Month at onlV .�iE " . + �-.5�!1. SatelliteTaValues.com �� " � � Print Powered By Ci �.%;�r��s��ics http://www.startribune.com/templates/fdcp?125 83 98275684 11/16/2009