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Builder: Aeolian Organ Co., Op. 1012, circa 1910. Manuals: Unknown Ranks: Unknown Action: Electro-pneumatic Notes: http://zenithcity.com/archive/historic-architecture/prindle-house/ William Martin Prindle (1861-1944) was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He started his career in 1879 in railroading. He was an early developer of Duluth, arriving in 1887. He headed his own real estate company by 1893, and encouraged Easterners to invest in the area. He later was a partner with Otto Lachmund in the real estate firm Prindle-Lachmund Company. He was the son of George and Christine Turner Prindle. Mina Netti Merrill Prindle (1864-1963), daughter of Janet Pollay Merrill, developed interests of her own during her husband's travels, donating land for Duluth's parks and serving as a member of the city's park board. They had a daughter in 1893, Muriel Prindle Wood who married Cornelius Ayer Wood December 15, 1915 in Duluth. Muriel (died 1963) and Cornelius (died 1969) had two children, Cornelius Aryer Wood, Jr. (died 2005) and Muriel Prindle Gerlach Ponzecchi. (Muriel was always called Oriole. Her husband is Piero Ponzecchi.) In 1904, William and Mina Prindle chose William Hunt of the firm Palmer, Hall, and Hunt, as the architect of their new Duluth home built in 1905 at 2211 Greysolon Road. From the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, Mina Prindle chose William A. French and John Bradstreet to decorate the interiors. One of Bradstreet's most important commissions was the Duluth home of William and Mina Merrill Prindle. For the living room, which was removed from 2211 Greysolon and is displayed at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), Bradstreet used carved sugi-finished wood in furniture that combined contemporary Art Nouveau ornamentation, including lotus leaves and flowers, with Queen Anne-style furniture forms. Bradstreet used glass light fixtures and fireplace tiles manufactured by Tiffany Studios, and Mrs. Prindle incorporated Japanese-style decorative accessories that she purchased from the Craftshouse. She was so respectful of Bradstreet's accomplishment that the interior, finished in 1906, was virtually intact when the MIA acquired it 75 years later. Wheaton Bissell Wood, son of Cornelius Wood, Jr., great-grandson of William M. and Mina Prindle, negotiated removal of room interiors and furnishings to the MIA in 1982. The Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist (founded in 1973, Motherhouse is in Meriden, Connecticut) purchased the house in 1985 for the John S. Duss Memorial Music Conservatory where music lessons were taught to children. The Aeolian pipe organ was still extant. The conservatory closed on June 30, 2009, after 27 years of music instruction, and the Sisters sold the 15 room mansion in 2013. Additional information from Rollin Smith's book on the Aeolian Organ Co. |
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