Eugene Merrill House on Washburn Fair Oaks Park

This red sandstone house is the oldest in the Washburn Fair Oaks Mansion District in Minneapolis and it had an odd beginning. It was built for John Bradstreet in 1884, but Bradstreet never moved in. The house sat empty until 1887 when it was purchased by attorney and banker Eugene Merrill.

The Merrills lived in the house for many years with their four children. Eugene owned a successful law practice in the city until he established the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company in 1883. He was also the director of the Minnesota Title and Insurance Company. He retired in 1910 and he and Addie wintered in Pasadena, California. Merrill died there in 1928. The Minneapolis house was too large for Addie to live in alone, so she sold the property and moved in with her daughter’s family in St Paul. She died in 1939 and was buried alongside Eugene at Lakewood Cemetery.

The house remained a single-family home until the early-1950s when it was converted into a rest home for the elderly. A carriage house that was located at the northwestern corner of the property was demolished in 1963. In the 1970s, the house was used as an art gallery and later became a rental property. Today, the house is used by a law firm.