I'm completely in love with this one!!! It's cute as a button and the story of the property is fascinating; from it's beginnings as a pump house to the renovation into a lakeside cottage with stairs to nowhere and the passing of stewardship from loving family to loving family. There is much of the history below, which I found on several websites, but if you like what I have posted from them, I highly suggest reading the articles as well.
I'm so happy that no one has added the second floor. It would seem a shame to mess with it. It's a perfect and sweet home. Maybe that is why Elizabeth never altered the building herself. For those seeking more space, there is a two car garage is located next to the property that has guest quarters below. I hope the next owner expands the garage if more space is needed and leaves the facade of the pump house alone.
As a side note, fans of Investigation Discovery may recognize the name of the first owner and woman responsible for the pump house's conversion, Elizabeth Congdon. Her story was featured in the show Behind Mansion Walls: Episode Fatal Greed. Elizabeth, who hails from a prominent family, and her night nurse, Velma Pietila, were murdered in Glensheen, the Congdon family mansion located 2.5 miles down the road from the pump house. SPOILER ALERT Roger Caldwell, the second husband of one of Elisabeth's adopted daughters, Marjorie, was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and received two life sentences. Marjorie was charged with aiding and abetting and conspiracy to commit murder, but was acquitted on all charges. In 1982, Caldwell's conviction was overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court. He was set to be retried, but pleaded guilty and submitted a full confession. He was later released from prison, and in 1988 he committed suicide.
LISTING DETAILS
Special Opportunity! The pump house is one of Duluth's iconic and historical properties. This solid brick "mini mansion" is located as close to Lake Superior as you can get! Elizabeth Congdon owned the property for 30+ years. It has only changed hands a few times and every owner since has absolutely loved living so close to the lake! Just the 185' lot and concrete seawall is worth the price! Present owners had preliminary plans to expand the second floor of the home, to include three full bedrooms and three baths. There is a detached two car garage with a one bedroom guest cottage below, perfect for visiting friends and relatives. If you have grand plans, there is the option to purchase the adjoining property to the east, adding an additional 115' of shoreline on Lake Superior in the heart of the city of Duluth! The current owners are relocating to the east coast and are providing a very special opportunity to own an incredible piece of history and Lake Superior shoreline!
HISTORY via Duluth Preservation
HISTORY via Duluth News Tribune
The one-time pump house was built in 1890, designed reportedly by noted architect John Wagenstein. Prior to its construction, other intake stations had stood on the site that weren't built as solidly and didn't last long.The new concrete and brick pump house drew water from the lake for the city's drinking water, along with a larger intake station near 15th Avenue East, until 1898 when the Lakewood Pump House north of Duluth began operating, according to Comfort Systems.
The 58th Avenue East pump house apparently sat unused for decades before Elisabeth Congdon bought it and took on the challenge to transform it. And a big challenge it was. A raw industrial building, it had bare brick walls, a concrete floor, exposed rafters and probably no windows. Big pumps filled its unfinished interior spaces.
Elisabeth was the daughter of Clara and Chester Congdon, an attorney, businessman and state legislator who made a fortune in mining before his death in 1916. In this little known episode in Elisabeth's life, she bought the former water intake pump house at 5802 London Road and converted it into a charming lakeside cottage. She would be joining several other Congdon family members who had homes, albeit much bigger, along the lake side of London Road.
Architect Harold Starin's blueprints for the pump house conversion show how the 1,400-square-foot brick building was turned into a one-bedroom home with a small stucco addition on one end to house utilities. While the project moved forward, Elisabeth changed her mind about living there. So her plans to raise the roof and add dormer windows to create two bedrooms and a bathroom for the girls, who joined her family by adoption, were never done.
The conversion added large windows, interior walls to create four rooms and an entry hallway, ceilings, two fireplaces, built-in bookcases and walls of storage and finished in a tasteful French-style. A spindle staircase in the front hallway leads to the planned second floor expansion. Because that phase of the project never happened, it leads to an attic storage room that has been used as a bedroom by other owners.
Elisabeth continued to own the former pump house cottage for about 30 years, during which she let conductors of the Duluth Community Orchestra, known today as the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, live there. Since she sold the property in the late 1960s, it has had five owners, according to Kirk Bernadino, current owner. Among them was St. Louis County Judge Robert Campbell and his wife, who owned it from 1978 to 1998.
HISTORY via Perfect Duluth Day
Duluth Preservation's Dennis Lamkin said it’s unclear if Congdon intended to live in the remodeled pump house or use it only as a studio and guest house. She allowed the house to be used as a residence for Duluth Symphony conductors for 30 years. The property has seen several owners since Congdon sold it in the 1960s.
The building is just 1,200-square feet and can get coated with ice during winter winds. It features six-foot-thick foundation walls and a basement sump pump pit built to tackle the aftermath of big lake storms.
“It has flooded,” said Lamkin. “Storms can get pretty wild. Especially in November and December, That’s the real storm season. You just put down the shutters and listen to it.”
(This article covers the current renovation as well as the history of the building, so if you're interested in the details of the renovation, it's a good read. Link below.)
BACK ON THE MARKET $790,000 PENDING
5802 London Rd, Duluth, MN 55804
2 beds | 1 baths | 1837 sqft | .60 acres
LINKS:
Listing Agent, Zillow, Realtor, Duluth Preservation, Duluth New Tribune, Perfect Duluth Day, Listing Photographer,
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