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edina country club district
LOCATION
The Edina Country Club District is a residential suburban neighborhood
covering a 14-block area bounded by Minnehaha Creek to the west, Sunnyside
Road to the north, Arden Avenue to the east, and W. 50th Street to the
south. The District encompasses approximately 555 dwellings and a City park.
 HISTORY
The Edina Country Club District, platted in 1924 by Thorpe Brothers
Realty Company, was one of the first modern planned communities in
Minnesota. A majority of the homes were constructed between 1924 and 1941 on
land originally serving the Browndale Farm (Henry Brown's land) and the old
Baird farm (George Baird).
The land use controls exercised by the original Country Club Association
formed the basis of the municipal zoning ordinance adopted in 1929.
Samuel Thorpe carefully designed every aspect of the neighborhood to include
heavily tree-lined streets and parks, as well as uniform building and design
restrictions. Unique to the times, Thorpe ensured that all of the major
utilities were installed before the lots were placed on market, thus
ensuring that the neighborhood was developed according to his plan. Care was
also taken to protect the property values in the form of deed restrictions,
valid for 40 years, which were enforced by the Country Club Neighborhood
Association led by Thorpe. The regulations were strictly adhered to and
dictated, among other things, what kind of trees could be planted and where
garbage cans should be placed.
In addition to the 40-year usage restrictions, perpetual covenants were
included in the deeds prohibiting non-whites from owning or residing in the
District. It was expressly stated that "no lot shall ever be sold, conveyed,
leased or rented to any person other than of the white or Caucasian race
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Such private deed restrictions were found to be unenforceable by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1948.
Unlike the restrictive covenants in some other states' developments,
Thorpe's did not include restrictions against ownership or residency by Jews
or other ethnic minorities. However, according to Deborah Morse-Kahn's 1988
book Edina: Chapters in the City History, potential buyers known to
be Jewish or members of certain other minorities were often openly turned
away by realtors and asked to look for property elsewhere. Minnesota enacted
a statute prohibiting discrimination in the sale of housing on religious
grounds in 1919; however, the entire Minneapolis area was openly
Anti-Semitic in its residential real estate and social practices. Rabbi
Michael Latz, a Minneapolis native, has noted that Jewish homeowners and
other minority members lived in Edina, but not in Country Club until the
1960s.
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1935 Country Club Crier |
Download the July 1935 Country Club Crier
article on the Edina Country Club development |
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Restrictions |
Download a sample deed showing the deed
restrictions at the time of the Country Club District's
development. |
 NATIONAL
REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
Thorpe's historic Country Club District was added to the National Park
Service's National Register of Historic Places in 1980, recognizing the
neighborhood as one of the first planned communities in the United
States. As part of the National Register application, extensive research
into the history of the area was undertaken, and a survey of all the homes
was completed. The survey provided information on each of the 555 homes in
the District, and included the historic architectural style, the condition
of the home as well as property owner data.
Through the survey, it was discovered that in 1925, Thorpe Brothers
Realty Company commissioned the Minneapolis architectural firm of Liebenberg
and Kaplan to design eight model homes on Edina Boulevard and Moorland
Avenue. The model homes were designed in a variety of historic revival
styles, including English Tudor, French Provincial and American Colonial
Revival. To a considerable degree, it was the model homes that set an
architectural standard for the homes that were built in the District.
Due to the National Register designation, many people assumed that there
were controls in place to regulate building activity and protect the
historic integrity of the Country Club District. However, that is not the
case. The National Register depends on the local government to provide
controls and regulations, which at the time was lacking.
 HERITAGE
LANDMARK DESIGNATION
In 2003, the Heritage Preservation Landmark overlay zoning
designation was assigned to the Country Club District to provide the
long-sought local protection.
The designation was based upon the data generated by
the 1980 National Register survey; however, the survey did not provide the
information needed to make wise design review decisions with respect to
teardowns and new construction. By 2007, the National Register survey data
was badly out-of-date and it was determined that a new survey was
necessary. In April 2007, the City Council imposed a one year moratorium on
the tear down of homes in the district to afford the Heritage Preservation
time to complete a re-survey of the district.
Once the survey was complete, findings identified a
number of information gaps and inconsistencies in the 1980 National Register
documentation (conflicting dates of construction, inadequate descriptions,
architectural bias) which have been corrected. More importantly, the
inventory of information about the heritage resources in the district was
thoroughly reviewed, reorganized and updated to reflect conditions which
actually exist, as well as the current state of practice in heritage
preservation planning. The plan of treatment was created to address the
results of the survey.
Findings from the survey included:
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Ninety-One percent, or 507 of the 555 homes in the
district were built between 1924 and 1944, when Thorpe Bros. Realty
controlled the Country Club development and enforced rigid architectural
standards on new home construction through restrictive covenants.
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The most important threat to the historic integrity
of the Country Club District comes from teardowns—specifically, the
demolition of historic homes and the construction of architecturally
inappropriate new homes.
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Overall, the level of preservation of historic
facades in the district is outstanding, particularly in comparison with
other neighborhoods of similarly-aged homes (including those in historic
districts) in the Twin Cities.
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The data at hand show that historic facades in the
district are, by and large, intact.
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The loss of historic integrity (i.e., the ability
to visually convey historical significance) caused by inappropriate
remodeling and additions has been proportionally small – less than 5
percent of the homes more than 50 years old have been torn down or
recreated to the point that they no longer resemble the original home.
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With respect to additions, over their lifetimes,
most of the homes in the district have been added to—the survey data
suggest that structural additions more than 50 years old often reflect
an important aspect of the pattern of residential development in the
district.
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The district contains a small number of buildings
and open spaces that are not historically significant and therefore,
should not be considered heritage preservation resources.
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The survey data demonstrate that the typical
Country Club homeowner has been a good steward of neighborhood heritage.
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You'll
need version 3.01 or later of Adobe Acrobat Reader™
to view and print the Brochure. |
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Plan of Treatment |
Download the Plan of Treatment approved by the
City Council in 2008. |
 The
plan of treatment serves as a guide for protecting the historic integrity of
the Country Club District by requiring a certificate of appropriateness (COA)
process for any work where a City
permit is required for the demolition and new construction of any principal
dwelling or detached garage within the district boundaries. Additionally, a
COA is required for any significant structural changes to street-facing
facades.
The plan identifies homes built from 1924 – 1944 as
heritage preservation resources because that is the period when the Thorpe
enforced rigid architectural standards on new home construction through
restrictive covenants. Furthermore, it is stipulated that no COA will be
approved for the demolition, in whole or in part, of any heritage
preservation resource in the district unless the applicant can show that the
subject property is not a heritage preservation resource, or no longer
contributes to the historical significance of the district because its
historic integrity has been compromised by deterioration, damage or by
inappropriate additions or alterations.
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