Home inspection in Dellwood.

What we see in Dellwood homes.

Dellwood was platted in 1882, became a village in 1917 and a city in the 1970s. It covers 2.81 square miles and had 1,171 residents in 2020. Growth followed the Stillwater and St. Paul Railroad, which brought summer homes for wealthy St. Paul families, and F. Scott Fitzgerald spent time in a Dellwood cottage in the early 1920s. Dellwood sits on the north side of White Bear Lake, which it shares with White Bear Lake, Mahtomedi, Birchwood Village and Bellaire. Minnesota Highway 96 is the main route. Today the housing is mostly large lakeside and wooded-lot homes, with older estate parcels among them.

Big houses on big lots mean big systems. Roof complexity and flashing, long runs of plumbing and wiring, multiple heating and cooling zones, and how well each was maintained are what matter. Homes with a summer-retreat past can carry additions layered on original cottage framing, so the point where old and new meet is worth watching. On the shoreline and on wooded lots, drainage, retaining walls, trees near the roof and foundation, decks, and outbuildings such as boathouses matter. Older estate homes may have original wiring and plumbing still in service.

Local facts checked September 2026 against: Wikipedia, Wikipedia, Minnesota Department of Health.