Overview

The Cook house is significant as a local example of a brick Queen Anne house.

• Location: 948 18^th Avenue Northeast
• Neighborhood: Northeast Park

Current photo (2020)

Architecture

• Architectural Style: Queen Anne 
• Architect: Unknown

Use

• Historic use: Residential
• Current use: Residential

Construction

• Construction date: 1889
• Contractor: John L. Cook

Significance

• Area(s) of significance: Architecture; Social History
• Period of Significance: 1889-1906
• Date of local designation: 2021
• Date of National Register designation: N/A
• Designation: Exterior

Historic profile

The Cook House is significant as a local example of a brick Queen Anne house. John L. Cook was a mason and house builder in Northeast Minneapolis. He built this house for himself in 1899. It is located at the corner of Tyler Street Northeast and 18th Avenue Northeast. 

Cook’s use of cream-colored brick with red brick accent is rare. Queen Anne details include a hexagonal corner tower, stained glass windows, and decorative wood. Soon after Cook built this house, he built and moved to a different house on 18th Avenue Northeast. The Tyler Street Northeast house became a multi-family home. In 1906, a small brick addition was built on the east side of the house. This appears to have changed the house’s floorplan to a duplex.

The house is also an example of immigrant housing in Northeast Minneapolis. The area had a significant Scandinavian immigrant population. Many people of Sweden and Norwegian descent lived here after John Cook. Many of them worked at notable Minneapolis businesses. By 1915, there were at least two Swedish churches and two Norwegian churches within walking distance from the home. 

Photo credit

• 2020 photo: Minneapolis Department of Community Planning and Economic Development

Work cited

“Tyler Street Northeast John Cook House Designation Study,” 2020.