page_title: James J. Hill House
section_title: Interior
hierarchical_section_title: James J. Hill House / Interior
caption_attribution_description: English: A mechanical action tracker pipe organ, designed by the George Hutchings Company of Boston. The organ contains 1006 pipes and was originally hand-pumped with a bellows in the basement. The organ still works today and can be heard most Saturdays, when there are guest organists providing demonstrations for visitors on tour or visiting the art gallery. Photo of the original pipe organ, within the art gallery of the James J. Hill House. Photography by: Corrie Potter Taken February 19, 2008. Collection of The Minnesota Historical Society
context_page_description: The James J. Hill House in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, was built by railroad magnate James J. Hill. The house, completed in 1891, is near the eastern end of Summit Avenue near the Cathedral of Saint Paul. The house, for its time, was very large and was the "showcase of St. Paul" until James J. Hill's death in 1916. It is listed as a U.S. National Historic Landmark, operated by the Minnesota Historical Society. It is also a contributing property to the Historic Hill District.
  The home has 36,000 square feet of living area and 44,552 square feet of total space.
context_section_description: The interior features an art gallery that housed Hill's collection of painting and sculpture.  It even had a pipe organ, installed after someone suggested to Hill that other wealthy people had pipe organs in their homes.  The house had a hybrid system of gas and electric lighting, with rotary switches on the walls to turn on the electric lights.  However, there were no electrical outlets installed, because during that era electricity was only used for lighting.  The woodwork in the house is very intricate, with hand-carved woodworking in the central hallway, the formal dining room, and the music room.  Other rooms in the house, particularly on the second floor where most of the family members lived, do not have hand carved woodwork, but the woodwork is still richly colored and nicely detailed.
  The first floor, in addition to the art gallery, music room, hall, and formal dining room previously mentioned, also had a library, a drawing room, and Mr. Hill's home office.  The second floor contained Mr. and Mrs. Hill's rooms, two guest rooms, and rooms for their five daughters, Gertrude, Rachel, Clara, Ruth, and Charlotte.  The third floor contained rooms for their sons James, Walter, and Louis (who later succeeded his father as president of the Great Northern Railway).  It also had a room that served as a gymnasium and school room for the children, as well as quarters for the servants.
caption: Pipe organ in the art gallery
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