April 7, 2010 - More than 50 homes - 35 in Minneapolis, 18 in Saint Paul - will be open during the 23rd annual Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour on Saturday, April 24, 10 am-5 pm and Sunday, April 25, 1-5 pm. The free, self-guided tour features "Real Homes, Real People, Real Ideas" and is designed to give Tour visitors inspiration and ideas on how to improve their own homes.
During the event residents from Minneapolis and St. Paul open their doors to show creative and practical ideas for kitchens, bathrooms, space additions and more. Visitors have an opportunity to talk directly with homeowners, and in many cases, their contractors, architects, and other trades people.
This year, ten lucky Home Tour visitors will come away with free, no-obligation design consultations in a drawing from surveys turned in. Also new this year, the Tour will offer a total of four (4) workshops in the hour before the tour starts - one in each city on each of the two days of the Tour.
According to Tour coordinators, "Recent visitors have come with serious, detailed questions, and we've set up a variety of opportunities before and during the tour to get in-depth information. The best source remains the featured homeowners themselves." Visit
www.MSPHomeTour.com for the workshop schedule and more information to help plan your tour.
You can also pick up a copy of the Home Tour Guides - with maps, descriptions of all the homes and special features - at local libraries in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and suburban Hennepin and Ramsey counties.
More Info and Fun Facts About This Year's Tour
On both April 24 and 25, Bob Roscoe of Design for Preservation will host and narrate walking tours of "storybook" houses in the Victory neighborhood of North Minneapolis (NOMI) The walking tour will start at 1:30 pm at 4254 Washburn Ave. N. (Home #11)
For history buffs, there will also be guided tours of Ripley Gardens (Home #7), the old maternity hospital at Penn & Glenwood in Minneapolis that has been converted into quality, mixed-income apartments and townhomes. And the "Grumpy Old Men" block near St. Paul's Lake Phalen has two homes (Homes # 50 & 51) open on the tour.
IKEA will be on hand at two of the homes to talk about using their products in remodeling. They'll be at the North Loop loft in Minneapolis (Home #16) and 1851 Goodrich in St. Paul (Home #41).
About 30 percent of tour visitors are looking for neighborhood information, and 13 percent are actually in the market for a home. They are getting remodeling ideas and getting up the courage to buy a home that needs fixing.
"About 29 percent of tour visitors come from the suburbs," said tour organizer Margo Ashmore. "The tour encourages city residents to remodel in place, and welcomes potential new or returning residents to choose city living and its energy and time-saving benefits."
Thjere are 28 neighborhoods featuring homes on this year's tour:
Minneapolis Neighborhood - Home #(s)
Audubon Park - #19
Bryn Mawr - #s 4, 5 & 6
Central - #s 1, 2 & 3
Harrison - #s 8 & 9
Hawthorne - #12
Hiawatha - #34
Willard Hay/Homewood - #9
Jordan - #s 13A & 13B
Linden Hills - #s 22, 23, 24 & 25
Lynnhurst - #s 26, 27 & 28
Minnehaha - #33
Nicollet Island-E. Bank - #17
North Loop - #16
Northrop - #s 29, 30 & 31
Near North/Old Highland - #s 14 & 15
Southeast Como - #21
Victory - #s 10 & 11 + Roscoe walking tours
Waite Park - #20
Wenonah - #32
Windom Park - #18
Saint Paul Neighborhood - Home #(s)
Dayton's Bluff - #s 47, 48 & 49
Highland Park - #s 35, 36, 37, 38 & 39
Macalester-Groveland - #s 40& 41
Merriam Park - #42
Payne Phalen - #s 50, 51 & 52
St. Anthony Park - #43
Summit Hill - #s 44 & 45
West Side - #46
The Minneapolis & St. Paul Home Tour is coordinated by
Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) with the
City of Saint Paul Planning and Economic Development Department, and other public, corporate and non-profit sponsors. For information, call 612-673-5103.
For more info about the Tour, contact: Margo Ashmore, Coordinator Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour at 612-673-5103. Or call the Minneapolis NRP at 612-673-5140.
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