Karen Melvin

A fascinating chapter of Lake Minnetonka historyBoathouses of Lake Minnetonka is a beautiful 240-page coffee-table book by award-winning author and photographer Karen Melvin and by writer Melinda Nelson. If you've ever sailed, boated, or paddled past a vintage boathouse on Lake Minnetonka and wished its rustic wooden walls could talk, you'll love this beautifully illustrated and meticulously researched volume about Minnesota's famed lake. Never before has a book so carefully documented the interior views and history of Lake Minnetonka's boathouses, and with over 400 stunning pictures, you will feel like you are "up north at the lake." Boathouses of Lake Minnetonka gives the reader an insider's view into the most enchanting boathouses of Lake Minnetonka, including today's appearance and vintage photos of nearly three-dozen boathouses. Experience the fascinating stories of the history of the original families and of the current owners, who consider themselves caretakers of these alluring lakeside retreats.

This winner of 11 national publishing awards belongs on every coffee table! Summit Avenue, grande dame of Victorian boulevards, is lined with magnificent turn-of-the-century mansions built by railroad magnates, lumber barons and captains of industry. Great Houses of Summit Avenue and the Hill District is a celebration of these homes on St. Paul's best-known and most beloved avenue. With a foreword by Garrison Keillor and fascinating stories penned by four award-winning writers, the book opens the doors to more than two dozen legendary homes situated on America's best-preserved avenue from the era. Photographer Karen Melvin takes us along for a tour through stately mansions to view these remarkable architectural gems. Richly illustrated with hundreds of photos, this book offers an irresistible invitation to step through the doors of these showcase homes to explain what we are all curious to know.

For tens of thousands of Minnesotans who walk and bike and paddle around Minneapolis's beautiful chain of lakes every year, the lovely homes that surround these fine city parks are as intriguing as the exquisite views of open space and sparkling water. Legendary Homes of the Minneapolis Lakes invites readers inside twenty-eight of the most architecturally significant dwellings. In these pages, photographer Karen Melvin and architectural writer Bette Hammel turn their attention to the finest homes around Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake, Lake Calhoun, and Lake Harriet. Generous homeowners have opened their doors and shared the stories of construction, renovation, and interior design. Featured architects include Harry Wild Jones, Purcell and Elmslie, Edwin Lundie, close and associates, Vincent James, and David Salmela. From the Italianate entryway of the Martin House to the whimsical living room of the Kaufman / Lacey House; from the Arts and Crafts kitchen of the Smith / Liepke house to the Rand / Mcglynn Phelps House's stunning formal dining room, Legendary Homes of the Minneapolis Lakes offers views of interest to all. This lavishly illustrated and informative book answers the Lake Walker's burning question: I wonder what it's like in there.

This book tracks New Spain's mendicant orders past their so-called golden age of missions into the ensuing centuries and demonstrates that they had equally crucial roles in what Melvin terms the "spiritual consolidation" of cities. Beginning in the late sixteenth century, cities became home to the majority of friars and to the orders' wealthiest houses, and mendicants became deeply embedded in urban social and cultural life. Friars ministered to urban residents of all races and social standings and engaged in traditional mendicant activities, serving as preachers, confessors, spiritual directors, alms collectors, educators, scholars, and sponsors of charitable works. Each order brought to this work a distinct identity that informed people's beliefs and shaped variations in the practice of Catholicism. Contrary to prevailing views, mendicant orders flourished during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and even the eighteenth-century reforms that ended this era were not as devastating as has been assumed. Even in the face of new institutional challenges, the demand for their services continued through the end of the colonial period, demonstrating the continued vitality of baroque piety.