Part of the family for 75 years, 19th-century house near Lake Minnetonka listed at $2M

On their way home from church in 1952, Victor and Ada May Bedell and their four children spotted an attractive house for sale in Minnetonka Beach.

The 19th-century house was then selling for $32,000. But it had been on the market for a while, so the Bedells offered $14,000. The seller accepted the offer, and the family moved into what would become one of the highest-priced cities in Minnesota.

After 75 years of ownership, descendants of the Bedells have now put the 4,067-square-foot house on the market for $2 million.

That sum would likely shock Ada May Bedell, who ended up living in the four-bedroom, two-bath house far longer than the family’s patriarch, who died three years after the purchase. But the 99% markup to the current asking price is really only average for home values in the small Twin Cities suburb, according to the Metropolitan Council.

On the shores of Lake Minnetonka, seven-figure deals are the norm. Many buyers of older houses plan to tear them down and build a much grander model in their stead.

“It’s a beautiful home, but they do tear down beautiful homes,” said 84-year-old Jim Bedell of Mound, the second-oldest of the Bedell children.

Minnetonka Beach Mayor Joe Pagano estimated in the 32 years he has lived there, he’s seen about half of the remaining old cottage torn down or “significantly upgraded.”

Jim Bedell’s son, Steve Bedell, is the real estate agent representing the house and proposed a “restore and refresh.” He said razing the property “would be a shame,” but it is an option: The house is not on any historic registers or subject to any construction restrictions.

It might, though, still have some historical importance. Although there’s some debate, the Cass Gilbert Society initially identified it as an 1887 house the famed St. Paul architect had designed. Gilbert was a skyscraper pioneer whose most prominent designs include the 1905 Minnesota State Capitol, the 1913 Woolworth Building in New York City and the 1935 U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

Two of the society’s founding members, Tom Blanck and Charles Locks, made the ID off “stylistic characteristics,” said society member Marjorie Pearson.

But the Lake Minnetonka Historical Society’s research suggested Frank Crowell had the Bedells’ house built in 1894, Pearson said. Newspaper accounts from the time support that, said Liz Vandam with the Historical Society.

The Gilbert connection has “always been rumored,” Vandam said. But scarce records and documentation means there’s no definitive proof either way.

Gilbert did design at least one now-demolished cottage nearby in 1887, Pearson said, citing the New York Historical Society’s Cass Gilbert archives. He also designed the still-standing St. Martin’s by the Lake Episcopal Church in Minnetonka Beach.

In the late 1800s, summer abodes for well-to-do Minneapolis families surrounded the lake. The families’ breadwinners often commuted weekly via tycoon James J. Hill’s railroad service to Minnetonka Beach as well as Wayzata and Excelsior. Hill also built hotels to serve vacationers, including the Hotel Lafayette, now known as the Lafayette Club.

About half a century later, the Bedell children made the house the “setting for rousing games of bright adventures in the big yard, the barn, carriage house and old water tower,” as a 1952 newspaper article put it.

After her husband died while she was pregnant with their seventh child, Ada May Bedell managed to provide for the family by working numerous odd jobs, including running a daycare; cooking for schools; painting and selling pictures; and renting out rooms to boarders.

She lived in the carriage house, which more recent residents have used as a guest house, until she died in 2003 at age 87.

“My grandmother was such a strong woman. I named my own daughter Ada May,” Steve Bedell said.

Through the years, the house has served as both a residence and a site for weddings and other family gatherings. Ada May Bedell’s oldest son, Brian, and his wife, Barbara, were living in the house when he died last November.

Pagano said Brian Bedell once told him he “used to sit on the front porch overlooking the lake, and it would be 15 minutes before a car would go by.”

Now, more than 15,000 cars pass through any given day, and that number was even higher before the pandemic, Pagano said.

Pagano described the Minnetonka Beach community as friendly and close-knit, coming together for casual driveway gatherings and an annual progressive dinner, where neighbors house-hop to try different food.

The city’s multimillion-dollar home values “mischaracterize the community as a bunch of wealthy people,” Pagano said.

“I can’t say enough or as many times how much we’ve enjoyed living here,” he said. “It just has a special feel: the character of the tree-lined streets, the 80 boat slips we rent out.”

Steve Bedell (612-805-3625,stevebedell1970@gmail.com) has the $1,999,999 listing.