"When they ask me where I live, I say I live on a set of public stairs," Joe Alton said in this 2018 MPR feature about his house and, broadly, St. Paul's 60ish historic public staircases. "There's about four or five minutes of dialogue that follows."
Fast-forward to today, and Alton—whose name you might remember from his years running craft beer magazine The Growler—is ready to move on from what author/urban geographer/Racket contributor Bill Lindke calls "perhaps the most unique home in St. Paul." Alton just listed his ultra-unusual house for $489,500.
Custom built by architect Paul Ormseth in 2002, the two-bedroom, one-bathroom, 1,410-square-foot home at 70 Lawton Steps sits just feet from a 77-step concrete stairway that's owned and maintained by the city—the only access is up, up, up those stairs. While the lot is private, it's surrounded by woodsy city land overlooking the Mississippi River Valley. The views, as you'll see below, are spectacular.
"You're surrounded by woods, but you're walking distance from Grand and Summit," listing agent Anna Garnaas-Halvorson with RE/MAX Results tells Racket. "You feel like you're in a forest treehouse, and that's super hard to find in the city. I've had meals in that gorgeous kitchen, spent time in those cozy spaces, and it's just super, duper special."
Other neat items include: a walkway made from reclaimed St. Paul cobblestone pavers and granite slabs; an entryway built with old chalkboards from Minneapolis Public Schools; and high-end features like a concrete-tiled roof, lofted primary bedroom, and in-floor radiant heat.
The listing agent chuckles as we broach the potential drawbacks—they're not exactly hidden.
"There's no garage, it's going to take someone who's active and can handle stairs," Garnaas-Halvorson says. "Your groceries are gonna be carried up, but once you get there you're settled in this beautiful nature space; potential buyers will just have to think practically."
Alton bought the place for $216,000 in 2015, according to county records. Garnaas-Halvorson reports he's selling with "a very heavy heart." But the local beer man now owns/operates a farmhouse brewery, Botany BrewFarm, in western Wisconsin, she says, and couldn't keep splitting his time between properties.
Garnaas-Halvorson suspects Saturday's open house (11 a.m.-2 p.m.) will be bananas.
"I think it's gonna be insane; we'll be navigating people down the stairs," she says. "I want it to be a madhouse, right? A lot of people will be curious and excited."
Can't make it out and up, up, up? Then enjoy this less cardio-demanding photo tour, courtesy of Spacecrafting and RE/MAX Results.
