Porches on Carleton’s Historical Nutting House to be Restored
The two-story gingerbread-style porch over the front entrance of Nutting House, Carleton College’s historical presidential residence, will be restored to its original state, thanks to an anonymous gift to the College for that purpose. The porch over the service entrance on the northeast corner of the home also will be restored.
The two-story gingerbread-style porch over the front entrance of Nutting House, Carleton College’s historical presidential residence, will be restored to its original state, thanks to an anonymous gift to the College for that purpose. The porch over the service entrance on the northeast corner of the home also will be restored.
Initial work on the project will begin Oct. 1, with completion scheduled for late April 2001. Nutting House will be open for viewing on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 1 to 5 p.m. as part of Northfield’s “Tour of Homes and Historic Buildings,” sponsored by the Northfield Historical Society. The architectural drawings of the porches will be on display at that time.
“This really is a wonderful gift to Carleton and to the Northfield community,” said Stephen R. Lewis, Jr., who has lived in Nutting House since his appointment as Carleton’s ninth president in 1987. “To see the home as it was meant to be will truly enhance it,” noted his wife, Judy Frost Lewis.
According to Dan Stadler, project manager at Carleton, planning for the restoration has been a painstaking process. Architects worked from pictures of the home and the original building plans to preserve historical accuracy. The porches feature ornate scrollwork and will be constructed mainly from redwood and douglas fir, two woods that have a long life, Stadler said. Vegetation that currently surrounds the front of Nutting House will be removed to truly showcase the porches.
Built in 1888 by the John Claudius Nutting family, the American Victorian-style home is located on the northwest corner of Union and Third streets in Northfield. The original porches were removed during the 1930s when the wood had deteriorated. Nutting House was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, the same year it was given to Carleton for use as the president’s residence by Ruth and Helen Nutting, graduates of the College and granddaughters of J.C. Nutting.
The restoration of the porches will be done by River City Builders of Nerstrand, Minn. Architectural design was provided by Miller, Dunwiddie, Inc. of Minneapolis.