In 1913, architects William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie designed a house that remains one of the most significant examples of the Prairie School style of architecture in the country.
Following a two-year hiatus, Purcell-Cutts House in person tours have resumed. Guides discuss the architecture and history of the house and its inhabitants, as well as details of its restoration. Starting in 2022, tours feature new focus areas, including hygiene and health in design and women in architecture. The tours also include information on the history of race and access to housing in Minneapolis in the early 1900s.
Ticketed tours are offered the second full weekend of each month.
For more information on tours please visit: https://new.artsmia.org/event/purcell-cutts-house-tour
In 1913, architects William Gray
Purcell and George Grant Elmslie designed a house that remains one of
the most significant examples of the Prairie School style of
architecture in the country. Built for Purcell’s own family and named
for Purcell’s wife Edna, the house, near Lake of the Isles in
Minneapolis, incorporated Purcell’s talent for innovative residential
planning with Elmslie’s ingenious and exacting decorative detail. Their
modest but stunning home is considered the most complete embodiment of
Purcell and Elmslie’s architectural philosophy. Purcell and his family lived in the
house for only a few years before relocating to Philadelphia and later
to Portland, Oregon. Anson Cutts and his wife, Edna, who purchased the
house in 1919, realized it was architecturally relevant and did not
significantly alter it during their residency. In 1985, the couple’s
son, Anson Cutts, Jr., bequeathed the house to The Minneapolis Institute
of Art along with funds for its restoration. In 1990, after a
three-year restoration process, the house was opened to the public and
is now known as the Purcell-Cutts House.
Following a two-year hiatus, Purcell-Cutts House in-person tours have resumed.
Guides discuss the architecture and history of the house and its
inhabitants, as well as details of its restoration. Starting in 2022,
tours feature new focus areas, including hygiene and health in design
and women in architecture. The tours also include information on the
history of race and access to housing in Minneapolis in the early 1900s.
Ticketed tours are offered the second full weekend of each month.
For more information on tours please visit: https://new.artsmia.org/event/purcell-cutts-house-tour
