By Mary Mergenthal
The latest in Kristin Anderson’s series on St. Anthony Park history continues at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church, 2323 Como Ave.
Anderson, a longtime SAP resident and professor emerita of Art & Design at Augsburg University, will talk about Clarence H. Johnston Sr. (1859–1936), who stands as Minnesota’s most prolific architect in the volume and variety of his work.
In and near the St. Anthony Park area, Johnston and his firm’s work covered many homes, schools, institutional and religious spaces built from the 1890s to the 1930s. Anderson’s talk will introduce viewers to many of these notable buildings.
An early example of Johnston’s work in St. Anthony Park is the Blodgett house on Knapp at Hillside .
As proof that satisfied customers often generate additional work, Blodgett’s business partner, Ernest Sperry, hired Johnston to design a house on Iglehart Avenue in 1908, and the Brown, Blodgett and Sperry Company commissioned Johnston’s firm to build their new headquarters at 1745 University Ave. in 1922.
Anderson has been conducting her free monthly SAP history talks over the last two years at SAP Lutheran Church.
In addition to the in-person session at the church, Anderson’s latest talk can be accessed live online, with a recording available for one week after the session. Use the SAPLC YouTube channel at bit.ly/Sap-history.
You can also get to the church’s YouTube channel by clicking through from saplc.org to the worship link, and then to the livestream link.
All photos by Kristin Anderson.
Mary Mergenthal lives in St. Anthony Park and is a former editor of the Bugle. She is also the Bugle’s obituaries editor.
