New housing development is architect's latest dream

Ruth Nerhaugen The Republican Eagle

The economy has tanked, unemployment is soaring and the housing market is in disarray.

So why is Philip Minervino building spec housing in Red Wing?

At 70-plus, he's had a full and varied career as an architect. Minervino has traveled and designed projects all over the world, from a stud farm in Normandy, France, to hotels in Africa to condos and resorts in Puerto Rico and beyond.

I've had lots of fun, drawing pictures and listening to Mozart," the Brooklyn-born man said. He was able to spend a lifetime pursuing a career he discovered at age 12.

Minervino stepped back from his job as an architect in Massachusetts and moved to Minnesota in 2002. He and his second wife adopted two children from China; they're living in Stillwater now.

But he wasn't quite ready to give up drawing pictures.

Wouldn't it be great, Minervino decided, if he were to design a single house a year without a predetermined buyer so he wouldn't have to deal with clients.

Minervino — who has horror stories about spending days looking for just the right knobs for kitchen cabinets to satisfy a client — calls himself "a concept guy, not a detail guy." He doesn't even work on a computer.

He was eying a piece of land for a single home in west Red Wing when Minervino was approached by Miles Development, which owned a large piece of land on that side of town. The company was looking for ideas on how best to develop it with townhomes.

Minervino's fertile mind rarely runs short of ideas. He looked at the plan. The more he thought about it, the more interested he became in developing the land himself.

"I am great at alternatives," Minervino said. He looked at the land and was reminded of a college course he taught on how people built things before today's technology was available.

Source

Add your comment Send Print Report