Remodeled 1883 Northfield house with former cut-flower farm lists for $748,000

Sara Payne and Erik Wardenaar have spent much of the past decade meticulously restoring an Italianate-style house that one of Northfield’s founding families built.

Now there’s just one item left on their to-do list.

“What’s not done yet is finding the next stewards of this house,” Payne said.

All in all, it took years to research the history of the John and Sarah Way House, update or replace virtually every system and carefully document the entire process. The couple recently listed the 142-year-old house for $748,000, making it one of the oldest — and most expensive — houses for sale in the Norman Rockwell-esque Minnesota town.

Though the Way House is one-of-a-kind, buyers now have more options in Northfield, which is about an hour’s drive south of the Twin Cities. Thirty-five new listings appeared in June — nearly twice as many as the same time last year.

And sales have been brisk. During the first half of the year, there have been 105 closings in Northfield, 15% more than last year, according to the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors.

Yet the median price of those sales in June was $351,000, a 7% decline compared to a year prior and well below the 16-county metro median of $401,000. (Only a portion of Northfield is technically within the metro area.)

The average price per square foot of closings in Northfield was $197; the Way House is $260 per square foot. That’s on par with what buyers are paying in Minneapolis, where the average price per square-foot during June was $259.

Payne and Wardenaar said the sense of community they’ve developed through the past decade in Northfield is priceless. It’s what attracted them to the area, which is also home to Carleton College and St. Olaf College, in the first place.

They’d lived for many years in a more secluded area of Golden Valley but grew to appreciate Northfield after dropping their son off at Carleton. The town reminded Payne, in all the best ways, of the small Vermont town where she went to college. And the Way House, which had been on the market for several years at the time, was in need of more than a little TLC.

“We were really struck by this lovely beauty that was a little neglected,” Payne said. “It was crying for attention.”

Wardenaar, who had recently finished restoring a large boat, wasn’t looking for another project. But he was also smitten.

For the next 10 years, the couple polished that jewel, and it began to shine through a variety of projects, including reconstruction of a porch and modernizing the kitchen and the 2½ bathrooms.

There was at least one major distraction from so many house projects: With more than a half-acre yard, the two launched Flutterby Flower Farm, an organic cut-flower farm they operated for about four years.

As that business grew, and as relatives overseas aged, they sensed the time for them to list the house and make their next move was nearing. So they retired the farm in fall 2023 to focus on house renovations. Instead of flowers, the raised beds, greenhouse and 2,500-gallon rainwater storage system with pump grew their own food and kept the freezer stocked with the bounty of summer.

While the pair thought the Way House would be their forever home, they realized during the pandemic they didn’t want an ocean of separation from their families in Europe.

“I don’t feel the grief I thought I might,” Payne said of selling the home that received so much of their love and attention. “I really do think we’d feel differently about it if we couldn’t wrap it up to our satisfaction.”

“We did what we wanted to do,” he said. “We’re just stewards who hope to pass it along to the next stewards.”

Known as the John and Sarah Way Huse, the 1883-built home has: a wraparound front porch; fir flooring; 10-foot ceilings on the main level and nine-foot ceilings on the second level; a gourmet kitchen with a large center island and separate pantry; new bathrooms with in-floor heating; a large, walk-in closet in the primary bedroom; an oversized, second-floor laundry; a main floor bedroom and bathroom; and a three-car garage.

The property, on about two-thirds of an acre, includes perennial gardens, a berry orchard, raised planting beds and a rainwater irrigation system.

Carol Hong (carol.hong@cbrealty.com, 612-210-3790) of Coldwell Banker has the $748,000 listing.