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Home My WebLink AboutArticle from Star Tribune - 2009 http://www.startribune.com/local/70115882.html?e1r=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDi07aiU Page 1 of 3 Iho� �ra��4� ��-�- �C.� �:� � ._ . _.rr f Point your Sta rTr i b u n e�� ` � mobile browser to http://startr ibune,com Pillsbury Estate: Auction will mark intact or divided into five waterfront lots. end of grand era The possible breakup of one of the great properties on Lake Minnetonka would be only the � � � �� latest loss on the lake, which is getting crowded with more homes on smaller lots. Three years ��.- �� r� . i �� . � � ago, 70 acres of the nearby Sweatt estate,owned ''��. ��'"�` j� ��' � .��""`'��-� ' by one of the families that founded HoneywelL w ` '�', �r �;�', � `� �� '��'`� ' " , � '� � µ, „�' was sold for a development that will include 47 .,�.°*�!� �,� ,. ;-. � � � °' ,� �,�,. ncw homes. ,:�. -�,., . � ' � � r . ,� R L' �� :_�� "�' ` � .,�,�,�'r �+ �� +�■ � .' � � � f�he loss of some of the big estates and the _ _ _ ' *''� �"'�` �� - �� possible division of Southways saddens Bette Karen iv�e�v�r� rr�otog�apny, Dm� - Jones Ha�nmel, author of the new book "Legendary Homes of Lake Minnetonka." The 13-acre former Pillsbury estate located on Lake Minnetonka's Smith Bay. °I hate to see it broken up," Hammel said. °The The Pillsbury estate on Lake shoreline is unique and the beautiful estates are part of it. ... Some of us feel [Southways] should be Minnetonka could be carved up for a museum. But nobody has the money now. You 112W d@V2�Opl11211t. would think this should be something for the public to see." By MARY JANE SMETANKA, Star Tribune George Pillsbury, who was born at Southways in Last update: November 15, 2009-3:18 PM 1921 and considered it his home until he married In photos, the former Pillsbury estate on Lake in 1946, is philosophical about the sale. Minnetonka's Brackett's Point looks like a fairy- tale house in a paradise of water and woods. "Owning a house like Southways is very expensive and requires upkeep," IIe said. "[f it became a Once the summer residence of one of the state's museum that would be fine. But I don't see that best-known families,the 40,000-square-foot happening right now." brick and stone�nanor house and its 13-acre site are for sale by sealed bids that are due Dec. 9. The Southways has been owned by James and Joann property, known as Southways, could be sold Jundt since 1992. The Jundts spent millions to Advertisement ' ' _ ' � � _ _ ' LifeLock. �i r � � q O � � #1 In Identity Theft Protection' � ' � • • � � 1-888-896-1878 Print Powered By � ` ' S_�3� � ,.;�1?.: , http://www.startribune.com/templates/fdcp?125 83 98275684 11/16/2009 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 http://www.startribune.com/local/70115882.html?e1r=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDi07aiU Page 3 of 3 __ _..� . _�,t. � � Point your StarTribu ne�CC�� _mobiiebrowserto Izttp:IJstartribune.com premier properties near Lake Minnetonka, said it we have right now are going to dampc;n anybody's can be a challenge marketing homes like interest." Southways. Built in a time when hired help did the work, homes like Southways often have kitchens Until bids come in, no one knows what will tucked in the interior of the house "because the happen to the property. But Gaffran said that in staff didn't need a view." While he said he hopes Orono,the owners of two estates have been someone buys the entire property, subdivision quietly buying properties adjacent to their own. may be necessary °to �nake the numbers work." Another landowner who had divided an estate into two-acre lots decades ago recently But then, "Subdivision on this property is recombined them into one property. interesting because they wouldn't be building similar-sized houses, and [Southways] would "Our sense is that they are attempting to keep the tower over them," he said. "It's going to look a estate character, not holding the land for little funny with other proininent houses and development," Gaffron said. "Most people that outbuildings around it. lt would lose its prestige." own these larger estates have a sense of history and feel that they are caretakers ... . They are A museum, perhaps? trying to preserve the property." Talk of turning the property into a museum is Mary Jane Smetanka• 612-673-7380 wishful thinking, said Erin Hanafin Berg, who works with the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. The property is on a narrow point of land jutting into the lake, so traffic would be a problem. And despite the Pillsbury family's intimate ties with Minnesota-- Pillsburys have been governor, saved the fledgling University of Minnesota from bankruptcy and founded an international food company -- "I don't know of any organization that would have the capacity to buy it," Berg said. "It's an American story worth preserving and telling," she said. 'But the economic constraints ��. _ ._. __ .. _ ___ .—. -- -�� _ _ _ � �Y� �- • `�� -. - � ..., � � r � r � � � +rv� � : i+� .. �� ¢�? r � ��' . . •.. • . � � , • , .. . . . : r ... .:. . ., .... .- � % - � �. .�a ..,,. , . ... .. . . _ . 'e �� !'W.�� . 'r.`��'f)�3 �, r,„�_.~� .; ;} �j , Print Powered By d Dyr��r7�ics http://www.startribune.com/templates/fdcp?1258398275684 11/16/2009