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Saturday, July 12, 2008

Mary's Place

~The House at 2104 Kenwood Pkwy 55405 Minneapolis, MN ~
Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? Well it's you girl, and you should know it With each glance and every little movement you show it Love is all around, no need to waste it You can have a town, why don't you take it You're gonna make it after all You're gonna make it after all How will you make it on your own? This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone But it's time you started living It's time you let someone else do some giving Love is all around, no need to waste it You can have a town, why don't you take it You're gonna make it after all You're gonna make it after all!
Mary Richards House - On the sitcom THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW/CBS/1970-77 Mary Tyler Moore played news producer Mary Richards who worked at WJM-TV in Minneapolis. At the end of the day, she returned home to her walk-up apartment (D) in an old Victorian home located at 119 North Weatherly Avenue. Mary marked her territory with a large letter "M" which she mounted on her kitchen wall. Upstairs from Mary lived Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), a window dresser, who coveted Mare's more spacious accommodations (Rhoda lived in a converted attic space). Their gossipy landlord Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman) dropped in from time-to- time with tidbits about her husband, Lars (an unseen dermatologist). The property used as Mary Richard's residence, in reality belonged to a University of Minnesota humanities professor. Built in 1892 at the cost of $15,000 by architect Edward Stebbins, the three-story, four bedroom Victorian home (plus attic space) with two kitchens and six bathrooms is located at 2104 Kenwood Parkway in Minneapolis near Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles. The first owner of the property was Spencer Davis, president of a farm implement company. When fans of the show began to regularly bother the owner, the peeved professor refused MTM producers the right to continue filming her residence. To show she meant business, she hung an "Impeach Nixon" sign on her home. The character Mary Richards soon after moved to a high-rise apartment at 932 N. Weatherly. Exteriors of the Cedar Riverside Plaza at 1610 6th Street South across from the University of Minnesota were used as Mary's new residence. Fans of the show still stop outside Mary Richard's old residence and take snapshots for souvenirs. And, of course, they all throw their hats in the air. As of 1988, Mary Richards' home was owned by Minneapolis Institute of Arts Director Evan Maurer and his wife, Naomi. In March 2004, the Maurer's decided to sell the five-bedroom, six-bath 112-year-old Victorian (6,461 square foot) home for nearly $1.7 Million (Price: $1,695,000) with Coldwell Banker Burnet. The house is now painted taupe instead of the original white. Also, the unfinished attic that was supposed to be Mary's room has since been converted into a a home office space. In 2007, the current owners of the house - Don Gerlach, a high school English teacher, and his wife, Pat - placed the fully renovated property on the market for 3.6 million dollars. TRIVIA NOTE: According to Mary Tyler Moore if you look real close at the silhouettes in the windows of the high-rise building as seen from Mary's apartment balcony, you can see people doing "nasty" things (a.k.a. "The Wild Thing") to each other. Mary admitted that she and other cast members painted the pictures in between filming on the set.

9 comments:

BittersweetPunkin said...

Wow...that's neat!! I don't think I would even recognize it if I came across it....you are such a wealth of information!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs,
Robin

Janet said...

Someone has certainly been doing her travel research! I loved that show and wanted an apartment just like Mary's, but I had forgotten she moved to the hi-rise.

Don't you just love Minneapolis? South Minneapolis is fun and St. Paul has some great shops and neighborhoods. Have fun!

Janet

Connie said...

My sweet miss "Q", what a bit of trivia that was. I'll never think of that show again without remembering this! Of course, I don't think of it too much anyhoooooo. But thanks, chickadee,
Smoochies,
Connie

Cheryl Wray said...

I always LOVED that show. Mary TM was hilarious!!!

Unknown said...

What a beautiful house! What fun trivia. You really know your MTM!

Anonymous said...

Oh how I loved this show - and coveted Rhoda's apartment! ;-)

Thank you sweet Sue for taking me down memory lane... we sure did have great shows growing up, didn't we?

xo,
Kim
Daisy Cottage

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

Who wouldn't want to live in that apartment? Love that house! -Julia

Wendster said...

From 15,000 to 3.6 million.

Appreciation is an amazing thing.

And while we are mentioning appreciation, I appreciate YOU. Thanks for sharing all of these cool photos of your outings. I enjoy them so much!

Firefly Nights said...

So they actually used a house in the same city where they said the program took place? That's fairly unusual. It's usually hundreds or thousands of miles away or on a movie set. Earl Hamner grew up a little over an hour from here and The Waltons was based in central Virginia in the storyline. I hate seeing all of that California scenery they used in the program. We don't have those tall, straight pine trees or the rather sparse fields that show up in the program. We have a totally different type of pine, and unless there's been a drought, our rolling hills are covered with grass.

Also didn't realize there was a MTM statue. Very interesting.