Seymour and Marjorie Mandel House

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Designers: Isadore, Seymour, and Marjorie Mandel
Date: 1953
Style: Woodsy Modern

The design of this house was a collaboration among Irwin Mandel, his brother Seymour, and Seymour’s wife, Marjorie. The house was built for Seymour and Marjorie and their children. They copied features of a house owned by the actors June Allyson and Dick Powell, which they had seen in a magazine. Irwin Mandel carried on the construction business started by Seymour and Irwin's father, Maurice Mandel. Among other things, Maurice built the Mikro Kodesh Synagogue (designed by Septimus Bowler, 1926), 1000 Oliver Ave. No., Minneapolis. Leslie Mandel, Seymour and Marjorie’s daughter, remembered that John Jager taught her how to write Chinese characters. Leslie’s sister, Avis Mandel, remembered that Jager gave every child in the neighborhood a dandelion digger with his or her name burned into the handle. Tom Eisenstadt says, “John Jager warned the Mandels not to build such a steep driveway, which advice they ignored. Every winter we would watch as their cars slid down and slowly crashed into one of the red cedars in front of our house across the street.”