Sep20 2026 DPA Annual Fall Tour

Francis James and Maryann Gowan Dacey House, 1919

2531 East 6th Street

Architect: Peter Martin Olsen
Style: Georgian Revival

This 7,000 square foot home was completed in 1919 for Francis J. and Maryann Gowan Dacey who raised four children there. Francis J. Dacey had a notable career in mining and boilerworks and was president of the Duluth Chamber of Commerce in 1925. The Daceys chose Peter M. Olsen (1883-1977) to design their large house. Olsen had practiced architecture solo since 1910 and was responsible for “many of the older homes in the East End” according to his obituary. Distinctive elements of the house include a third floor trunk room and fur storage cedar closet, two guest rooms and a maid’s room on the third floor, all with en suite bathrooms, and nine fireplaces. While noting some changes to the original construction, the current owners say that “much of the home retains its original spaces and features, including the English silver wall sconces and the Edwardian pendant lights in the main hall and on the first landing.” They affectionately refer to it as “Folly Hall.”

Pilgrim Congregational Church, 1917

2310 East 4th Street

Architects: Frederick G. German and Leif Jenssen 
Style: English Gothic Revival

Pilgrim Congregational Church will not open for tours until noon.

Pilgrim Congregational Church was formally established in 1871 and originally located downtown. But recognizing the city’s eastward expansion, the congregation purchased land in 1915 at 23^rd Avenue East and Fourth Street. Construction soon began for an impressive church designed by the celebrated architects Frederick G. German and Leif Jenssen.  Originally from Canada, German came to Duluth in 1892 via New York and quickly established himself as a popular and talented architect. In 1917, he became partners with Leif Jenssen. Churches in the English Gothic style evoked a pre-industrial past with designs and details by artisans and craftspeople. Asymmetrical design, gabled roofs, crenellations, Gothic arches, and extensive decorative elements are hallmarks of this style. Pilgrim Congregational Church is an imposing red brick and limestone-trimmed building in an L-shape with a tall, square, battlement-topped bell tower between the wings. Gothic windows and tower buttresses add to its grandeur. Among its most prized features are a dozen stained glass windows, five made by Tiffany and Company. 

Bernard and Ernestine Silberstein House, 1920

21 North 21st Avenue East “Highpoint”

Architects: Frederick G. German and Leif Jenssen 
Style: Colonial Revival

Colonial Revival architecture mixed the symmetry, structure, and simple design of American Colonial homes with Victorian-era details. It proved to be a popular style for grand houses on the East End like Highpoint, with its commanding front entry, cartouche, and spacious rooms. By the time the renowned   Duluth architect Frederick G. German designed Highpoint, he was one of the architects of choice for churches, municipal buildings, offices, and homes. Bernard Silberstein (1846-1922), the prominent merchant, politician, and philanthropist, commissioned German to secretly build Highpoint as a Golden Wedding anniversary gift to his wife, Ernestine (“Nettie”). The Silbersteins and their extended family are considered the city’s earliest Jewish residents. Highpoint’s current owners have painstakingly restored and updated it while respecting the original architecture. Most recently, they rewired the entire house. Visitors should note the large stairway mural (not an original feature) which copies the painting “The Carpet Merchant” by Jean-Léon Jérôme—a nod to Bernard Silberstein’s successful trade selling Oriental rugs. 

The Hemlock Exchange, Northwestern Bell Building, 1921

1804 East 1st Street

Architects: Edwin H. Hewitt and Edwin Brown 
Style: Beaux Arts

Only a few decades after the telephone was invented in 1875, it had already been installed in over 20,000 homes and businesses around Duluth. The Duluth Telephone Company and The Zenith Telephone Company vied for prominence, but by 1921, Northwestern Telephone Exchange Company purchased and consolidated them to create Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. That same year, the Hemlock Exchange was constructed to help service the growing East End neighborhood. Beaux-Arts trained architect Edwin H. Hewitt partnered with Edwin Brown to design this building. The three-story Exchange is embellished with many terra cotta components such as floral horizontal banding, cast horizontal sills, egg and dart ribbons, crests, and bracketed soffit panels on the entire perimeter. Lower floors housed the mechanical equipment, while manual switching operators used the upper floors. By  the late 1980s, the Exchange had outlived its utility and was sold to a private party. In 2015, Bluestone Construction purchased the building to redevelop it for multi residential use while embracing its historical significance.  

Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, 1912

902 East 1st Street

Architect: Frederick G. German
Builder: Frank A. Carlson
Style: Neo-Classical Revival

Built in 1912 as the First Church of Christ, Scientist, this distinctive Neo-Classical Revival building was designed by prominent Duluth architect Frederick G. German. Its formal, symmetrical façade features cream-colored brick, stone pilasters and trim, a broad cornice, and a sweeping flight of steps. Its unusual cruciform plan centers on a domed rotunda, while large round-arched windows, leaded glass, and patterned brickwork add character to the restrained exterior. Inside, the soaring ceiling and dome create a dramatic open space, and the church’s original organ remains in the rotunda. In 1994, the building became home to the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, whose collection preserves more than one million historic manuscripts and documents. Fittingly, another piece of the building’s own history was uncovered in 2024: a copper time capsule placed in its cornerstone by the original congregation in 1912, remarkably preserved after more than a century.

Duluth Public Library (Carnegie Library), 1902

101 West 2nd Street

Architect: Adolph F. Rudolph 
Style: Classic Revival

By 1900, Duluth had outgrown its first official public library. But help arrived in the person of Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish immigrant turned American steel magnate turned philanthropist.  Beginning in 1881, he donated $56 million to build 2,509 free public libraries worldwide—1,681 in the United States. When he funded the Duluth library in 1901 to the tune of $65,000, the city chose local architect Adolph F. Rudolph to build it. Rudolph may have been inspired by the national City Beautiful movement, which emphasized classical or historical architecture, impressive civic buildings, and organized city planning. Accordingly, Rudolph designed a majestic Roman brick sandstone building with a large pediment, Ionic columns, a white marble staircase, and a copper dome. Two Tiffany windows were installed there (since moved) created by Duluthian Ann Weston: the “Minnehaha Window” and the “Greysolon Window.” In 1978, the Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places, but by then it no longer met the city’s library needs and was sold for private use.