Mankato's Hunt House moves from verge of demolition to Preservation Landmark status

Oct. 17—The stylish 126-year-old home on South Second Street could hardly be a better example of what Mankato's Heritage Preservation Commission is all about, according to Commission Chair Jessica Potter.

"It was very, very close to demolition, and it has completely been restored back to a historic property," Potter said. "So as an HPC, this is one of our shining glories to show that historic preservation is possible."

Traditionally known as the Hunt House, the Queen Anne home at 811 S. Second St. checked off all the requirements to become the city's 18th Heritage Preservation Landmark.

It has a nice mix of Mankato heritage, built by L.P. Hunt, a postmaster and who later purchased The Free Press, served as its publisher and editor, made it the city's first daily newspaper, and served as the executive director of a world expo in Chicago, according to city documents.

His wife Lizzie was involved in historical and cultural work, including founding a local art history club, fundraising for a Hiawatha statue at Minneapolis' Minnehaha Falls and pushing to have the lady slipper designated as Minnesota's state flower.

In terms of preservation, the house was clearly on the precipice before being saved by current owners Chris Crowell and Kristin Fisher, who restored the home and operate it as the Moulin Rouge House bed and breakfast.

The home's third owner, Betty Webb, had opened the Moulin Rouge Beauty Shop in the parlor of the home in 1940, and it had continued in that capacity, with Webb's daughter eventually taking over, until 2015.

By then, upkeep on the 3,100-square-foot home had lapsed.

"It is a property that over the years has kind of evolved, and there were times it needed some repair," Associate Director of Planning and Development Services Mark Konz told the City Council last week in a bit of understatement.

The house was sold through a bank sale in 2015 to a development group, and there was talk of razing it to make space for an apartment building until Crowell and Fisher purchased it three years later.

By then, the structure's assessed market value had declined to $28,400, according to county tax records. This year, after the completion of an extensive restoration, it's valued at $294,200.

Monetary worth aside, the ornate home now makes for an eye-catching landmark even in a neighborhood with numerous century-old homes. Crowell and Fisher not only invested time and money in making it that way, they sought expert advice to keep it authentic.

"Over the past few years, there has been a lot of renovations to it," Konz said. "All of them have been worked on under guidance of the State Historic Preservation Office and the Blue Earth County Historical Society."

Michael Koop, a historic preservation specialist for the state, wrote in a letter at the start of the restoration that the house "is significant as an excellent example of the Queen Anne style," highlighting features such as the turret with its conical roof, the checkboard brickwork, the modillioned cornice and the heavy wood ornamentation.

The designation as an official Heritage Preservation Landmark is more than simply an honor. It requires the property's owners to work through the commission before making any changes to the exterior of the building to ensure the historic nature of the structure is not undermined.

Possibly because homeowners may have been reluctant to voluntarily add a bureaucratic requirement to future repair projects, the Hunt House is just the second privately owned home on the list, joining the Eberhart House, 228 E. Pleasant Street.

Most other properties on the list have tended to be owned by government (the Blue Earth County Courthouse, the Hubbard House, the First National Bank that was incorporated into the civic center, and several of Mankato's oldest parks), by nonprofit organizations (First Presbyterian Church on East Hickory Street, the Betsy and Tacy houses in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and the Carnegie Art Center on Broad Street) or by businesses (the original Mankato Clinic Building on Main Street near downtown and the Wenzl Huttl Tailor Shop and the Stahl House, both in Old Town).

Potter, who also serves as executive director of the Blue Earth County Historical Society, is hopeful the latest addition will inspire owners of other historic homes to consider applying.

"We feel it is a very significant shining star in our Heritage Preservation ordinance," she said.