The name Newton Griffith might not be as recognizable as his teachers, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, but the Minneapolis-based architect is well known in the City of Lakes.
Griffith’s work echoes his education at Harvard University under the International Style and Bauhaus architects Gropius and Breuer. Newton leaned into classic midcentury modern choices, such as an abundance of natural light, smart orientations, linear silhouettes, and lots of natural materials.
It’s all on display at 2867 Burnham Blvd., a Griffith-designed single-family home built in 1953 that’s listed for just under $1.3 million.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home flows over three floors and 3,554 square feet, with a closed floor plan on the lower level but open expanses on the main level with varying ceiling heights and angles.
“He loved open floor plans and simple windows, but then still having these simple elevation changes that delineate spaces,” said listing agent Lauren Fichtel of Keller Williams Realty Integrity Lakes. “It’s great for entertaining, you feel like it’s so expansive up there, but then the bedrooms and bathrooms all have a really good sense of privacy to them.”
After multiple offers and five days on the market, the home is currently under contract, expected to close above the asking price, said Fichtel. Still, that deal could fall through.
The sellers purchased the home in 2020 for $835,000. Fichtel said the sellers invested more than $300,000 into updating the home, including redoing the wood siding and painting it black from the original brown, remodeling the bathroom and patio, and updating the HVAC and landscaping.
Some of its most attention-grabbing features to touring buyers include the five-story fireplace clad in green tile, said Fichtel.
The home is tucked away in a corner of Cedar Lake that most are unaware of and consists of only about 15 homes, according to Fichtel. Just a few doors down, there’s an L-shaped Frank Lloyd Wright home built in 1951 named after its original owners Frieda and Henry J. Neils.
About 2 miles away from 2867 Burnham is another Griffith-designed home built in 1953 currently for sale. That home has three bedrooms and three bathrooms with 3,490 square feet. It’s listed for $1.3 million. Inside, the angled rooflines and wood-paneled ceilings with large windows coincide with the Burnham listing.
Griffith moved from Omaha, Nebraska, to Minnesota to pursue his bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, which he received in 1946, according to the University of Minnesota Libraries.
Griffith then studied under Gropius and Breuer at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1949, along with several notable architects who also enrolled in the program in the '40s: I.M. Pei, who designed the Louvre Pyramid and brutalist architects Ulrich Franzen and Paul Rudolph.
“He has a lot of designs around town. … He was influential here for sure,” said Fichtel. “He served on the National Preservation of Historical Buildings [Committee]. He founded an architecture firm and was president of that firm until he died in 1968.”
Griffith’s home, which he designed, in Edina, Minnesota, was named one of the best homes of the year in Architectural Record magazine in 1962.