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FeedUrban Resuscitation
A combination of renovation and individual taste brings a St. Paul mansion into the twenty-first century
By mason riddle
Photo by dana wheelock | Styled by kathleen behrens
(page 1 of 2)
Dirk and Ruth Dantuma each had a vision for their ideal home. Dirk wanted a house with a view, while Ruth envisioned a big, old house to restore. The 1889 Ohage mansion in St. Paul’s Historic Irvine Park District brought both their dreams to fruition.At about 8,000 square feet, the stately, yellow brick, Kasota stone, and limestone Queen Anne certainly qualifies as big. A four-story tower anchors the front corner. Romanesque arched windows and a porte-cochère with cast iron columns contribute to period charm. The sheltered yard—large by city standards—offers commanding views of downtown and the Mississippi River. Inside, a grand arched window on the stair landing frames this perfect picture.
The home’s original occupant, Dr. Justus Ohage, was a prominent St. Paul physician who became the city’s first commissioner of health in 1899. He also owned what is now Harriet Island, where he built public baths to improve hygiene. Ohage hired architect Emil W. Ulrici to design a house, modeled after his wife’s childhood home, in what was then one of the first and finest residential districts in St. Paul.
By the 1950s, when many of the stately mansions in Irvine Park were converted to rooming houses, the Ohage residence became a 10-unit tenement. Decades of decline followed in the area. Although the neighborhood was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, it wasn’t until the late 1970s that restoration began in earnest. During that period, a great nephew of the Ohages returned the home to family ownership and began restoration work, which the subsequent owner, Jim Berg, continued until selling the home to the Dantumas in 1997.
Photo by Dana Wheelock
First, Ruth had the dark brown exterior trim painted a butter color and tore out the straggly bushes. Dirk found most of the main home’s 50 original wood-framed screens and storm windows in the old carriage house. They rented a lift so that they could restore the windows themselves. Ruth scraped, and sanded the windows, then brushed on three coats of paint. For a two-month stretch, on any given evening, Dirk could be seen wrestling newly refurbished windows into their second- and third-floor places.
While exploring the attic, Dirk discovered a triangular-shaped window with doors and perches that projects from the roof. “Dr. Ohage must have had homing pigeons, why else would this window be here?” Dirk hypothesizes. Even with the lift, he was unable to reach the window, so it remains dark brown.
Inside, the Dantumas freshened original wood floors, woodwork, and moldings. They stripped wallpaper and painted walls in rich, modern hues: mustard in the spacious living room, muted chartreuse in the sitting room, and deep claret for the dining room. The central corridors are a neutral cream color. “I wanted to warm up the rooms with rich color to make the house more inviting,” explains Ruth.
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