The Edna S Purcell House on Lake Place, was designed and built in 1913 by architects William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie for Purcell, his wife and his first two children.&
The Edna S Purcell House on Lake Place, was designed and built in 1913 by architects William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie for Purcell, his wife and his first two children. It was donated to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts by Anson B. Cutts Jr in 1985, who was the son of the second owner and is now known as the Purcell-Cutts House. The Institute spent three years restoring the property and opens it to the public for one weekend every month.
The house is an outstanding example of Prairie School architecture. Purcell wanted a modern house designed for modern family life. He wanted to build a home that contrasted with the revival-style houses popular at the time. He thought the materials and finish in these houses was largely based on what was fashionable and not the 'fitness of things'. Purcell and Elmslie based their designs on the architectural principles of Louis Sullivan who they had both worked with in Chicago.
Their design of a modern house reflected its sense of time and place, and was compatible with its surroundings. The modern design elements include the flat roof, open plan rooms, and art-glass windows. In 1919 Purcell sold the house to Anson Cutts and his wife, who hardly altered it while living there for over 60 years.
The House features incredible detail and fine decoration. There are personal motifs through the property including the motto 'Gray Days and Gold' incorporated into the decoration on the end of a beam, and the ESP monogram. The fireplace was designed as the focal point in the living room, based on Purcell's childhood memories of campfires.
