spicedogs | Hello, lovely new home: Keillor moving a few blocks

After his altercation with his neighbor, Garrison Keillor and his family bought a new house. A few blocks away, in a secluded spot, away from the main street and other neighbors. He claims that he needs a bigger, airy, first-floor studio. I think that he is being a curmudgeon. But to each his own. His new home is just beautiful. At least, it looks beautiful on the outside. I am sure, it is gorgeous on the inside.

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

The Georgian Revival house on Summit Avenue in St. Paul that Garrison Keillor and his wife have offered to buy was built in 1919, designed by the noted Boston architectural firm Thomas, Parker & Rice, designers of many historic East Coast buildings. It sits on a bluff overlooking the city on a half-acre lot.

The author-radio host and his family are planning to buy a house on Summit Avenue overlooking St. Paul.

By PAT PHEIFER, Star Tribune

March 4, 2008

Are you in the market for a seven-bedroom house with 14-foot ceilings and a sweeping staircase reminiscent of a

Garrison Kiellor

French chateau, in a bustling and historic neighborhood in St. Paul?

Would it help that one of the sellers is writer, storyteller and radio host Garrison Keillor?

The star of "A Prairie Home Companion" and his wife, Jenny Lind Nilsson, listed their house in the Ramsey Hill Historic District with a real estate agent this week. The asking price: $1.65 million, according to www.realtor.com.

Keillor and Nilsson sued their next-door neighbor, Lori Anderson, in January to stop her from building a two-story garage-and-studio addition to her house, saying the project would "obstruct the access of light and air to [their] property."

But the dispute isn't the reason Keillor and Nilsson are selling their house and buying another, said real estate agent Mary Hardy. Keillor wants a large, airy first-floor studio where he can work, she said. Keillor and Nilsson made an offer for a house in the 200 block of Summit Avenue that has about 4,000 square feet more space and sits on a half-acre lot on a bluff. While its listing price is no longer public, the house's taxable value was listed at just under $1.6 million.

The lawsuit that Keillor and Nilsson filed was settled through mediation about a week later, but terms were not disclosed.

Since then, however, new drawings have been submitted to and approved by the city, said Robert Humphrey, assistant to the director of the city's Department of Safety and Inspections. The new plans, Humphrey said, call for the addition to be built away from the property line. Otherwise, the project is essentially the same.

On Tuesday, it appeared that construction was underway.

Keillor was out of town and had no comment Tuesday, said his spokesman, David O'Neill.

SOURCE: Star Tribune