50 Irvine Park
Built: 1869 Major alterations: 1881, 1976
Style: Victorian Eclectic
Architect: August Gauger (1881)
When tha house was built in 1869 it originally faced the river with an address on Washington Street. David Riddle Breed, who was one of the founding clergy of House of Hope Presbyterian Church, occupied the first house.
In 1874 Dr. Jacob H. Stewart purchased the Washington Street house. Stewart was the distinguished surgeon of the 1st Minnesota Regiment during the Civil War and later served five terms as mayor of St. Paul.
In 1881 Henry and Fanny Banning Horn, Stewarts neighbors bought the home. Industrailization of the riverfront, popularity of more ornate architectual styles and recent park improvements led the Horns to undertake an extensive redesign of the house which shifted the orientation of the front of the house away from the river to the park.
After Henry Horn's death, his widow converted the large house into a double house. The house was sold in 1907 to James A. Young how operated a fuel business at the Upper Levee.
By the time the Irvine Park District was established, the property had deteriorated and was being used to store machine parts. A fire in 1980 destoryed the original, Washington Street portion of the house. |
