Burton and Geri Joseph House

5 Red Cedar Lane

Architect: Perry Larawa
Date: 1940
Style: English Cottage Revival

Perry Larawa, who designed the house at 1 Red Cedar Lane for his own family, also designed this house. It was purchased by the Joseph family in the 1950s. Burton Joseph was a commodities trader. His wife, Geri Joseph, was a leader in Minnesota’s DFL party, a speech writer for Hubert Humphrey, and was appointed Ambassador to The Netherlands by President Jimmy Carter. Once when Humphrey came to dinner at the Joseph house, a sign in the driveway at 10 Red Cedar Lane across the street said, “No parking for Democrats here.” The thickness of the walls – and thereby the overall coziness of the house -- is accentuated by the large voussoirs (radiating stones forming an arch) over the front door and by the depth of the entryway leading to the side entrance. The consciously “random” stonework is mostly buff limestone with ochre-colored Kasota Stone for accents.

Geri Joseph remembers happy times on Red Cedar Lane: "It was a great street — no question about it. We were looking for a place to buy. I was struck by the fact that it was in the city -- but it had all the trees, so it had this wonderful quality of being like camping up north. And there were only six houses on the dead-end street. For a young family with children it was great. They could play ball in the street because, except for people who were just driving around sight-seeing, no one came in there."

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5 Red Cedar Lane ~ Private Property