Day 2 of My Neighborhood

 And now the conclusion of this tour of my neighborhood. I missed most of the big homes on Summit Avenue as I felt weird taking pictures of homes. But a lot of these were not homes so I took pictures of them. Besides, there's always Google Street View. You'll notice that my neighborhood as a very eclectic mix of structures, especially some Victorians. A lot of these structures do stray from their architectural standards and there is a reason for that. Many of these homes were built during the railroad and steam boat boom years of Saint Paul. When speculative money was flowing in and railroads were pocketing enormous sums of money, people needed to show off their new found wealth, especially since they lived up on the hill (Now called Summit Hill). However, during the early years of Saint Paul, there were no professional architects to be found, after all, the city was very young (20 - 40 years old) and many of the immigrants pouring in were not skilled and were just looking for land. So many artisans without any formal architectural training dabbled in building many different styles of homes but were not entirely familiar with all the nuances. Some purposely disregarded them for their own taste. Many of the homes built are seen in these photos. There are also many modern buildings as well, sometimes squeezed in between older ones as some of the Old Money dried up and pricey land was sold.  I took a quick trip into the Cathedral as well and this was the first time I had been in there since I moved into this neighborhood. Quite beautiful and the pictures do not do it justice. Its unfortunate that I came just before the doors closed and that the lighting was not really up to par (especially since it was nearly sunset).  Anyway, here is the conclusion.