Summit Hill House Tour showcases homes of yesteryear

When the ancient wallpaper in Jill Harmon's foyer started to deteriorate, she didn't tear it down; she hired a pro to touch it up. This wasn't just any old wallpaper. It was a silk-screened Zuber mural dating back to the 1930s when a previous owner received it as a wedding gift.

"We've done a lot to restore it," said Harmon of the colorful mural. Over the two dozen years she and her husband, Frank Fairman, have owned their 1914-built Tudor Revival house, they've made a lot of improvements but always with an eye to its historic character. When they remodeled two bathrooms, for example, they converted a linen closet into a shower, but kept the original tubs and overall period look. "We tried to honor the house," she said.

During next weekend's tour, all three floors of the house will be open to visitors, including the expansive master suite, which includes a fireplace, two walk-in closets, a dressing room and an adjacent office.

The couple, who raised their three children in the 6,600-square-foot house, converted the third-floor servants' quarters into a playroom for the kids and their friends.

"It's such a great fun neighborhood," Harmon said. "People stay a long time in these houses."

She learned some of her home's history after becoming "pen pals" with Louis Goodkind, son of the original owner, Leo Goodkind, who owned Mannheimer Department Store in downtown St. Paul (later bought by Dayton's). "He said he never had a meal in the kitchen," Harmon said. All food, including breakfast, was served to the family, by servants, in the oak-paneled dining room.

After the Goodkinds, the house had another prominent longtime owner, Athelstan Spilhaus, a geophysicist, inventor and dean of the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology. Spilhaus was a colorful character, who in later years, described his occupation as "retired genius."

Kim Palmer • 612-673-4784