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Uptown Minneapolis house rich with elaborate wood carvings lists for $849K

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Uptown Minneapolis house rich with elaborate wood carvings lists for 9K


The home, built in 1906, is a prime example of decorative dark wood features that were popular at the turn of the 20th century, and that look might be making a comeback.

The Minnesota Star Tribune

In an era where the monochromatic “Millennial gray” color scheme has conquered so many homes’ interior design, the dark and elaborately carved wood decor in this Minneapolis house feels boldly different.

Cris DuBord’s 7,405-square-foot Lowry Hill East home is filled with all sorts of elaborate ornamentation popular among affluent homeowners in 1906, when the house was built. Penny tile, stained glass, an engraved fireplace grate with a hummingbird design.

But most prominent are the dark wood carvings that embellish the beamed ceilings, crown moldings, wainscoting and door and window frames. They’re also present in the ornamental plate rails with grooves to display dishes and the large fireplace mantel adorned with what Minneapolis professional wood-carver Erik Wyckoff called “the scrolly stuff.”

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“It’s really kind of a feast for the eyes to see all the different styles, all the original things that were still in place,” DuBord said. “It is an absolute love-at-first-sight kind of house.”

She enjoyed being in the house after buying it in 2018. But she is no longer living with her former husband, and their four kids have left home. So DuBord downsized to a home in Edina and listed the Minneapolis house at $849,000.

The house has six bedrooms, four on the second floor and two in the attic. There’s a bathroom on each floor.

The main floor also holds a mud room; large living, kitchen and dining rooms; and a music or sitting room. There’s a grand staircase leading to the second floor along with a stairway at the back of the house that climbs up to the attic.

The primary bedroom on the second floor includes a little bump-out room likely designed to hold a baby’s crib or bassinet. DuBord didn’t need it for that purpose — her kids were teenagers at the time — so she put a TV in it. That helped turn the room, which also has a fireplace, into “a grown-up’s sitting room, with an office, TV room and reading room,” she said.

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The couple then picked a different room for their primary bedroom.

The basement is partly finished, and was a place for the DuBords to watch TV, do homework and share a pizza.

“It was home to so many sleepovers, so many fun times for the kids, because it’s giant and has a kitchenette,” DuBord said.

The attic, where two of the kids had their bedrooms, appears to have once been servants’ quarters. The teenagers loved the space, DuBord said.

“It’s like having your own apartment up there, with its own bathroom and giant rooms with views of the city,” she said.

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The house has a small front yard but a large backyard, mostly paved as patio space. Around the patio, the DuBords “landscaped the heck out of it” with perennial borders, Duboard said. They also professionally installed twinkling lights above the patio.

“It’s very private and really kind of magical in the summer,” she said.

Other improvements included updating the bathrooms, adding new insulation that prevents ice dams and refinishing the floors.

The house has a three-car garage and is within easy walking distance of restaurants, shops and stores along nearby Hennepin and Lyndale avenues in Uptown, she said.

The home’s original occupant, Charles F. Osborne, co-owned the Osborne-Clark Lumber Co. that professed to be “distributors of everything in hardwood,” per an ad at the time, said Kathy Kullberg, who has led walking tours of the area.

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Although elaborate wood carving is a feature in a lot of mansions upper-class Minnesotans built around the turn of the 20th century, Osborne’s profession could partly explain the abundance of a particularly valued kind of wood in his home.

The house has a lot of “figured lumber,” or wood with an attractive grain pattern, said David M. Smith of Fresh Air Finishers.

“It’s interesting that the home was built by a lumberman; this would explain the selection of some of the most figured flamed birch I have seen in a Minnesota home,” said Smith, whose company specializes in the restoration of historic woodwork and wood finishes.

Flamed or flame has a curved pattern resembling fire. A dark stain helps further accentuate the carving, Smith said.

Intricate European designs with a lot of carved wood also likely inspired the home’s style.

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“At that time, there was a huge influx of highly trained immigrant labor,” Wyckoff said. “Really highly skilled woodworkers and wood-carvers from Germany, Italy, Switzerland.”

Some designers and decorating magazines have indicated complex carved wood, even in darker hues, is coming back en vogue after years of sleek streamlined looks and blond wood.

“Interior designers at the really high end always need to be one step ahead of the mass market,” said Wyckoff, who works on wood-carving jobs throughout the country. “They pushed minimalism to its outside edge. On both coasts, they’re moving back to highly detailed design. Maximalism is in again.”

Correction: A previous version of this story misattributed a quote. Wood-carver Erik Wyckoff:said “At that time, there was a huge influx of highly trained immigrant labor. Really highly skilled woodworkers and wood-carvers from Germany, Italy, Switzerland.”



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Minneapolis, MN

I-394 traffic shift between Minneapolis and St. Louis Park starts on Wednesday

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I-394 traffic shift between Minneapolis and St. Louis Park starts on Wednesday


A major traffic shift will start on one of Minnesota’s busiest highways Wednesday morning.

Eastbound lanes of Interstate 394 between Louisiana Avenue in St. Louis Park and downtown Minneapolis will be down to two lanes, with no EZ-Pass options. That means getting from the west metro to downtown Minneapolis could be tricky. Officials say drivers should expect increased traffic around St. Louis Park through the fall.

The change comes as westbound I-394 fully reopens after several months of construction, plus a return-to-normal entry to westbound I-394 from westbound Interstate 94 after the Lowry Hill Tunnel.

Crews have been working on the $67 million project since July 2025 to repair and restore more than 30 bridges across the 394 corridor.

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While eastbound drivers are finding fewer lanes, westbound drivers are finding freedom

Minnesota Department of Transportation


Nathan Bowie with the Minnesota Department of Transportation says construction has been going well and while the reopening of the westbound lanes marks an important milestone, the work is far from over. 

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“We understand that construction can be an inconvenience. It can be frustrating,” Bowie said. “We’re really asking folks to be patient, plan ahead, give yourself some extra travel time.”

The project also includes several ramp closures, including eastbound I-394 ramps at Penn and Cedar Lake avenues and the connection to westbound I-94.

Bryn Mawr resident Dan Spengler said he’s noticed more drivers shifting to neighborhood streets to avoid backups and expects that to only get worse.

“I believe in what they’re doing, but they need to manage the neighborhoods better because people are driving through the neighborhood with nowhere to go, so they are speeding through neighborhoods,” Spengler said.

Bowie says crews will be putting on signs in neighborhoods where traffic is expected to swell, reminding folks of the speed limit.

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Businesses along I-394, like Good Day Cafe, are also feeling the squeeze

“We’d like to have all the roads open, yes,” said manager Jamie Flynn. “I mean, right now we’re very fortunate, for like I said, the guests and sort of the people that know to come here that have been for years and years.”

The new traffic pattern is expected to stay in place through November. Officials want drivers to follow posted detours and pay attention to ensure a smooth transition.

More information about the project is available on the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s website.

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Minneapolis, MN

Man sentenced to federal prison for armed robberies of St. Paul bank, Minneapolis Walgreens

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Man sentenced to federal prison for armed robberies of St. Paul bank, Minneapolis Walgreens


A 26-year-old man was sentenced this week to 2 ½ years in federal prison for robbing a Walgreens in Minneapolis, then a St. Paul bank the next day.

Korey Maurese Hale (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

Korey Maurese Hale of Minneapolis pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court of Minnesota to one count of armed bank robbery in connection with the June 2024 hold ups.

Hale used the same .22-caliber Mossberg rifle in both robberies, making off with about $200 from Walgreens at Chicago Avenue and 43rd Street and approximately $1,833 from BMO Bank at Snelling and Randolph avenues, according to his January plea agreement. St. Paul police arrested Hale near the bank shortly after the heist.

In an interview with a St. Paul police investigator, Hale said people were trying to kill him and voices in his head made him rob the bank, according to initial charges filed in Ramsey County District Court.

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Hale was civilly committed as mentally ill and chemically dependent in September 2024. Eight months later, he was ordered to undergo a federal psychiatric and psychological examination, which found his medication treatment was effective and he was competent to stand trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Forbes wrote in a presentencing memo.

Hale’s sentencing Monday at the federal courthouse in St. Paul includes five years of supervised release following incarceration.

“Once released, if Hale continues to take his medications, continues to receive mental health treatment, and stays away from controlled substances, he will dramatically reduce his risk of recidivism,” Forbes wrote in the memo. “A five-year term of supervision will best ensure that the federal crimes in this case are Hale’s last.”



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Minneapolis, MN

MPD allegations under spotlight

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MPD allegations under spotlight


New analysis shows how misconduct allegations have been handled in the Minneapolis Police Department a week after an ACLU report found that concerns over policing tactics have continued. FOX 9’s Soyoung Kim has the latest.



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