In the news business' current economic climate, it's hard to imagine a newspaperman with enough cash to put up a castle.
But the castle-like mansion that Swan Turnblad built in Minneapolis a century ago stands as proof that it once was possible. And as if to repeat the stunt, the mansion's current owner, the
American Swedish Institute, has announced mid-recession plans for an addition to the Park Avenue icon.
It's an effort that, as with other cultural institutions' recent expansion plans, has seen a course correction. But it wasn't a scaling-back due to donations drying up. Instead, a neighbor,
Ebenezer, offered for sale its seven-story nursing facility next door. ASI bought the property and its plans for a bulky addition with parking structure sidling up close to the historic mansion went by the wayside.
Instead, the Institute re-evaluated its needs and asked
HGA Architects to design an addition that while still connected to the mansion would itself be less imposing, giving the Turnblad's landmark what Scandinavians might consider a more appropriate amount of personal space.
"A slightly smaller building," says Bruce Karstadt, ASI's president and CEO, "that doesn't need to be nestled up" quite so close to the old castle. It will house an event space, offices, and a crafts studio, among other things.
Karstadt says the ASI expects to break ground next year on the $21.5 million project, which now includes more restoration of the house (now museum) that typesetter-turned-publisher Turnblad built from his labors on the Swedish-language, Minneapolis-based newspaper
Svenska Amerikanska Posten.
Source: Bruce Karstadt, American Swedish Institute
Writer: Chris Steller