Levi C. Robinson House, 3121 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Levi C. Robinson House
3121 Park Avenue - 2008
Address:	3121 Park Avenue
Neighborhood/s:	Central, Minneapolis, Minnesota
City/locality- State/province	Minneapolis, Minnesota
County- State/province:	Hennepin County, Minnesota
State/province:	Minnesota
Country:	United States
Year built:	1906
Primary Style:	Colonial Revival
Secondary Style:	American Four-Square
Builder:	J. O. Stenvig
First Owner:	Levi C. and Frieda Robinson
Part of the Site:	Park Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Central Minneapolis Hennepin County

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Levi C. Robinson House, 3121 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota
(44.945952° N, 93.2651753° W)

INTRODUCTION

According to Minneapolis building permits, Levi C. and Frieda Robinson commissioned Contractor J. O. Stenvig to build this Colonial Revival home in 1906. Construction was completed in August at a total cost of $4,675.

ORIGINAL OWNER

Levi C. Robinson was a successful Salesman employed with the Bardwell & Robinson Company, a leading manufacturer of sash, doors, and interior finishings, including decorative mouldings and woodwork, built-in buffets and bookcases, and other fine architectural elements. The firm long played an important part in Minneapolis's growth and material development and its high-quality products could be found in some of the finest residential and commercial structures of the day, including the West Hotel, Andrus Building, New York Life Building, Lumber Exchange, Milwaukee Depot, and others. Levi Robinson was the son of Charles N. Robinson and the grandson of Bardwell & Robinson Founder and President, Sumner C. Robinson.

Sumner C. Robinson formed the notable business in 1857 with Charles S. Bardwell, owner of the historic Bardwell-Ferrant House at 2500 Portland Avenue. Upon Sumner Robinson's death, his son (Levi's father), Charles N. Robinson, succeeded him in the business as President. According to the book History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest, "Charles N. Robinson was an alert, progressive and enterprising business man, and while he entered upon a business already established, he displayed a most progressive spirit in meeting the conditions of the times and in enlarging his interests according to modern commercial ideals and methods." [1]

Levi Robinson continued in the family tradition and, at the time he resided at 3121 Park Avenue, was employed by Bardwell & Robinson and well known in the Minneapolis social circles. Levi and Frieda lived at this address until 1918.

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE

With its primarily symmetrical facade, 3121 Park Avenue represents a good example of the then popular transitional Colonial Revival style; however, the home also boasts leftover asymmetrical elements of Queen Anne architecture, namely the first-floor bay and oriel windows and off-center front door. The interior layout of the home is pure American Four-Square, with four rooms per floor, one room per corner.

Notes

1. History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; Chicago-Minneapolis, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co, 1923. Pages 409-410, 413-414