City: Minneapolis, MN

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (612) 871-4907

Address: 2600 Park Ave.

Description: A hundred years ago, Minneapolis’s wealthy resided on Park Avenue The affluent relocated many years ago and left behind the elegant American Swedish Institute.Completed in 1908, the palatial 33-room mansion was once a single-family residence. The châteauesque mansion was constructed for Swan and Christina Turnblad and their daughter, Lillian. The Turnblad family amassed their fortune through the Svenska Amerikanska Posten, a Swedish-language newspaper with a circulation of 40,000 at its zenith. In 1929 the Turnblads donated the mansion to the American Institute for Swedish Arts, Literature, and Science, which later changed its name to the American Swedish Institute. The rooms inside the mansion display interesting architectural details. For example, there is a rococo revival salon, a two-story fireplace in the Grand Hall made of carved mahogany, and 11 Swedish kakelugnar (porcelain stoves) in various rooms. The institute is the oldest museum of Swedish-American history and culture in the United States. The American Swedish Institute shines on as one of the best reminders of the Park Avenue’s architectural history.