St. Louis Park’s Sunset Gables neighborhood consists of 132 lots, platted on August 15, 1929. Most of the homes were built in the 1930s. A brochure from that time advertises “Sunset Gables – A Restricted Residential Development.” (In this case the restriction was grandness of the house, not people, although there may have been those kinds of restrictions as well.)
The developer was the Sunset Development Company, which doesn’t tell us much. There were actually two subdivisions: Sunset Gables Minneapolis, which was just over the France Ave. line, and Sunset Gables 2nd Division, which was all in St. Louis Park. The area includes Sunset Blvd., Minnetonka Blvd., and streets from France to Joppa, north of Highway 7 and west of France.
The sales brochure tells the tale; it shows photos and sketches of large, two-story houses, and boasts:
Ten Minutes to the Loop by auto, over Minneapolis’ Beautiful Boulevards; Via Lowry Hill and Kenwood
Adjacent to the exclusive Lake of the Isles District, Lake Calhoun and Cedar Lake.
Pavement on W. Lake St. to the addition
Street Car Service
Schools
Bathing-beaches nearby
Large Home Sites restricted to 2-story dwellings, costing $7,00, $8,500, $10,000 and upward
A few lots available for duplexes, multiple dwellings and businesses
Graded and oiled streets, sidewalks and curb
City water, Electricity, Gas
Sewer in part of tract
Sunset Boulevard landscaped
A real Home Section.