OUR STORY
a little about our founders and our building
about our founders
Scout Workshop’s founders - Kim Batcheller & Heather Rose-Dunning
Heather and Kim started working together practicing architecture and design in 2007, first at 20 Below Studio, then as part of a larger firm in 2013 (when 20 Below was acquired), and on their own again with Yellow Dog Studio since 2015. Today Yellow Dog Studio is a successful architecture and design firm with a robust body of work (in the Twin Cities & nationally).
The idea for Scout Workshop was hatched in tandem with Yellow Dog Studio in 2015. Heather and Kim wanted to figure out how to remain a small, agile design firm while connecting to a broader community of other creative folks forging their own paths. When they couldn't find that combination anywhere, they decided to create it.
Heather is a self-professed misfit and MN transplant, with original roots in IN.
Kim is arguably more of the hippie, spending years in CA and CO before moving back to her home state of MN.
about the building
While the building’s smokestack and the stained-glass over the front door note it as “Gaytee Stained Glass,” 2744 Lyndale actually began the Star Laundry Company in 1922. Its history as a commercial laundry helps explain the large open spaces and high ceilings; even the basement has ceilings that are over 12’ tall. In 1937, Star Laundry expanded, adding a dry-cleaning plant and became The Star Valet Cleaners until 1948.
In 1948, the property — including the original laundry building, the second dry-cleaning building, and the enclosed connecting space (formerly an alley) was purchased and converted to multi-tenant offices. Then in the mid-1970s, it was acquired by John Salisbury of Gaytee Glass as a home for his growing stained glass business.
Gaytee Stained Glass was founded in 1918. Its work can be found in many local residences, but also in the Basilica of St. Mary, Central Lutheran Church, and the Minnesota State Capital. When Salisbury retired in 2010 and sold the business (now Gaytee-Palmer Stained Glass), he maintained the building for his personal office and collections of antiques and artifacts. It was filled not only with glass, but taxidermy, model ships, WWII memorabilia, and stack upon stacks of newspapers and magazines.
In selling the building, Salisbury left behind a number of objects — including three large gargoyles, a terra cotta panel from the demolished Garrick Theatre, a Steuben glass chandelier, and numerous stained glass panels — all of which the new owners lovingly designed back into the space.
For more reading, visit HERE.