F. Scott Fitzgerald's former home at 599 Summit Ave. is now for sale. The row house, which has been listed for $650,000, is where the author worked on "This Side of Paradise," the novel that launched the St. Paul native to fame. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

Another view of the row houses. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

A plaque shows the home has been designated a Registered National Historic Landmark. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

The entrance to the home. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

Bay windows look out onto Summit Avenue. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)



The living room features a fireplace. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

Another view of the living room.

The dinning room.

Another view of the dining room.

The walk-in butler's pantry. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)



The kitchen. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

The breakfast room. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

Another view of the kitchen. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

A door opens to a bathroom under a staircase at 599 Summit Ave. in St. Paul. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

The grand staircase, which goes up three floors. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)



A bedroom, one of four. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

One of four bathrooms. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

A second-floor bedroom, being used as a den/study. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

One of the four bathrooms. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

Another view of the bathroom. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)



Another of the home's bedrooms. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

The second-floor bedroom where F. Scott Fitzgerald reportedly slept and worked on the novel "This side of Paradise." (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

The master bedroom. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

The grand staircase, which goes up three floors. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

The rear of 599 Summit Ave. in St. Paul. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)



The house comes with a private rooftop deck. (Courtesy of Edina Realty)

Here is something Michael Jones didn’t used to know.

F. Scott Fitzgerald used to crawl out of a window onto a balcony to smoke cigarettes while he was living at 599 Summit Ave., the St. Paul residence where the famed author lived when he published his first novel nearly 100 years ago.

The retired 3M manager didn’t discover that fact until after he had crawled out the same window in the St. Paul row home for a cigarette break.

Jones’ wife didn’t want him to smoke inside the house, which the couple has owned for the past 19 years. Jones says Fitzgerald reportedly was forbidden from smoking inside by his parents, who were renting the home at the time.

“He gave up something I was unwilling to give up, though,” said Jones, now an ex-smoker. “He gave up drinking to finish that novel. I never went that far.”

That’s just one of the nuggets Jones and his wife Nancy came to know about the famous author while living in the home. Almost two decades later, they are selling the property that brings curious history fans to their doorstep, sometimes multiple times a day.

“We have very mixed feelings about going,” Jones said. “We love it here, but as time goes on, sort of like the motto, things just don’t stay the same.”

The 38-stair climb to their bedroom has become too taxing for the aging couple, so they are downsizing, Jones said.

The property hit the market Tuesday.

The listing, which calls the home “one of the most famous properties in St. Paul,” describes a “dramatic” three-story staircase inside the 3,500-square-foot residence, as well as a “gracious” formal dining room, original walk-in pantry, private deck and three fireplaces. It also has a hot tub, four bathrooms and four bedrooms

Built in 1889 by Clarence Johnston, the listing of course also touts Fitzgerald’s brief stay in the home in 1919, when he worked on “This Side of Paradise.”

Jones also describes it as the place Fitzgerald feverishly plotted his pursuit of his eventual wife, Zelda Sayre. He reportedly gave up drinking while living in the home to keep focused on finishing his novel so he could earn enough money to win Sayre’s Southern belle heart, Jones said.

The asking price for the home is $650,000.

The home follows last year’s listing of another of the Summit Avenue row houses with ties to the author — 593 Summit Ave. That home, which went on the market last year, is not as closely associated with Fitzgerald.

Given its designation as a National Historic Landmark, the exterior of 599 Summit cannot be altered. But new buyers can do what they want inside, said Brad Palacek, the listing agent who is selling the property alongside Michael Korby. Both work for Edina Realty.

Michael and Nancy Jones took full advantage of that liberty, stripping the Hawaiian theme that decorated the walls when they bought the place back in 1997 from a couple who formerly lived on one of the Pacific islands.

The couple has since redecorated the space in a “Victorian style,” Jones said.

They used the third-floor bedroom Fitzgerald once slept in as an office and outfitted it with barrister bookcases, a rolltop desk and a large armoire.

The Joneses knew next to nothing about Fitzgerald when they bought it. Instead, it was their desire for urban living after spending a couple of years in Brussels that brought them to Summit Avenue. Prior to that, they lived in a home they built above the river in Stillwater.

But they were soon immersed in his story, Jones said, partly from the countless visitors who dropped by over the years who wanted to see a speck of Fitzgerald’s past and share with the Joneses what they knew of his life.

One year, the couple had 1,500 people come through. They keep their front curtain drawn to keep out the wandering eyes of those who mistakenly think the home operates as a museum.

“Every single day (someone is over),” Jones said of the traffic generated by the famous abode. “We have come to appreciate what Scott did … He touched a lot of different people in a lot of different properties in St. Paul.”

In addition to 599 Summit, Fitzgerald’s family lived in several other homes nearby. He also attended school and socialized in St. Paul.

Since hitting the market yesterday, Palacek and his partner’s phones have been “kind of ringing off the hook,” Palacek said.

“A lot of people want to see it. It’s obviously on Summit Avenue, so it’s not only got a great biography, but the location is fantastic,” Palacek said. “It’s a really wonderful place.”

He says he is still pinching himself that the listing is his.

“I have been selling real estate for 25 years, and it doesn’t get any better than this,” Palacek said.