The mansion at 1522 Hillside Avenue North has long been a gateway property with the potential to set the tone for the rest of one of the Northside's most picturesque blocks. However, for the past several years, the house near the corner of Hillside and Irving Ave N has sat vacant. 1522 was carved up, from an expansive single-family home into an eight-unit rental monstrosity.
The locals along Hillside will tell you that after it went vacant, the place became a flophouse for transvestite hookers. There are two ways to confirm that tidbit of information. One involves reenacting scenes from "The Crying Game" or "Funky Cold Medina," and the other is achieved by reading the police reports and finding a statistical over-representation of men being arrested there. I'm guessing the good people of Hillside went with the latter route.
Eventually that was shut down, and the empty home has been slouching towards demolition ever since. It went into tax forfeiture, was transferred to the city of Minneapolis, and had a date with a bulldozer. While utilities were being disconnected, a new benefactor approached the city and asked to purchase the house. That person is...
