Thompson Summer House

The Thompson Summer House is a house in Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota, United States, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located on Hennepin County Road 15, across from Lafayette Bay on Lake Minnetonka.

Thompson Summer House
The Thompson Summer House from the south-southeast.
Location3012 Shoreline Dr., Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota
Coordinates44°56′20″N 93°35′59″W
Built1887
NRHP reference No.97001652[1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 15, 1998

The house was built in 1887 for Charles Telford Thompson, an attorney and civil leader, and his wife.[2] It was listed on the National Register as a typical example of the types of Queen Anne summer homes that middle and upper-class Minneapolis residents owned on Lake Minnetonka during the end of the 19th Century. An identical house owned by Samuel A. Harris, Charles Thompson's brother-in-law, once sat adjacent to the Thompson Summer House, but was demolished in 1968.

In the 1990s, the house faced deterioration from erosion and rot. In an effort to stabilize the foundation and rebuild the wraparound porch while preserving the character of the house, the owners undertook a major restoration project. The project, conducted by Wes Foss, the husband of Thompson's great-great granddaughter Debbie, was featured on a three-part episode of Hometime on PBS[3][4] and won an award from the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota in 2005.[5]

The house is currently one of the oldest extant summer houses on Lake Minnetonka and is in excellent condition. It is still used strictly as a summer home (as it has always been) and frequently hosts family gatherings.[6]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. Nord, Mary Ann (2003). The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 102. ISBN 0-87351-448-3.
  3. "Current Programming: Historic Summer Home". Hometime Episode Guide. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
  4. "Hometime On TV - Syndication: Historic Summer Home – Kitchen Demo". Retrieved 2009-01-27.
  5. "2005 Minnesota Preservation Awards". Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. September 16, 2005. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
  6. "Minnesota Preservation Planner: Summer 1998" (PDF). Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
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