The House Construction

In the beginning

Laborers built the original square, two-story house for Dr. Samuel Shaw and his family in 1857 in Shaw’s Addition in the Original Town of Anoka. It was much larger and far more elegant than most other houses in Anoka at the time. Its design incorporates Federal and Greek Revival styles of architecture. It has a stone foundation and uses locally logged pine. Above the door was a fanlight transom and sidelights. The house was built with 12 over 12 windows. It spoke of the wealth and eastern origins of its builder.

the first changes

After 1900, a one-story L-shaped addition was added to the west side of the house, and a one-story colonnaded porch was added to the north and east sides, wrapping partially along the south side. Care was taken to match the house’s original character in the addition and the porch.

1911 saw another property change made--the house grounds were enclosed with a stone fence built with rock from the bed of the Rum River. An elegant gateway for carriages and automobiles and another for pedestrians opened onto Ferry Street. The newspaper article noted, “These grounds are, without a doubt, the handsomest in Anoka, and strangers passing along Ferry Street have commented very favorably on them. Anoka grows prettier each year, and this is but one proof of it.” Another story said the uncle of writer and humorist Garrison Keillor built the stone fence.

Interior changes

During the 1930s, the two-story Philippine mahogany paneling in the study was added. They moved one staircase from near the kitchen to the front entry and removed the other. Some small rooms were combined to create a spacious living room, additional doors and windows were installed, and a verandah was added to further the view of the river. Rooms on the second floor were combined to make two large bedrooms, and they installed a balcony at the top of the stairs to overlook the study. A “wing” was added on the house’s west side, the servant’s quarters, and a garage. They upgraded the plumbing services with a popular look of the day, a bathroom with green porcelain fixtures and chrome legs. The electrical systems were redone, and a unique refrigeration system was installed. It was a brewery-style refrigerator with six doors and a motor in the basement. The remodeling brought the old house up to the height of modern fashion for the 1930s.

The 1950s

The wallpaper in the bathroom with the green fixtures changed to a white and gold fleur-de-lis that spoke of elegance and grace. Fern Johnston installed the bathroom tile herself. The tiles were leftovers from her father’s business, and the many shades of blue gave it the nickname the “blue” bathroom. The servant’s quarters on the main floor behind the kitchen left from the Kiewel remodel were made first into Barb’s playroom and later into Fern’s sewing room by the Johnstons. The bathroom across the hall from that room remained for family use.

modern problems

In recent memory, one of the best improvements to the property was installing the stoplight on Ferry Street in the mid-1990s. Traffic had increased on Ferry Street, and during peak times of the day, it was almost impossible and quite dangerous to make a left turn to get into their driveway. John Weaver often joked about working and living in Anoka but needing to drive to Champlin to get home. It was far safer—and both John and Jill did it many times—to drive south past the house, across the Mississippi River into Champlin, then turn around, come back across the river, and make a right turn into their driveway. The stoplight gave them much easier access to their driveway.