2018 HOLIDAY MANSIONS PART THREE

Call me old fashion, but I’m a stickler for tradition, especially around the Holidays. Growing up in Iowa, there were certain rituals and events that were always present during the Holiday season, and from Thanksgiving into the new year, like clockwork, they would make their annual appearance.

When I moved to Minneapolis I found myself creating new Holiday traditions of my own. One of those new traditions is my annual visit to the American Swedish Institute to see the Turnblad mansion transformed into a truly amazing and breathtaking Christmas Castle.

Swan Turnblad

Christina Turnblad

The mansion, located on Park Avenue, is a lovely `French Chateauesque home designed by architects Christopher Boehme and Victor Cordella. The mansion took approximately five years to complete and became one of the more stately homes on the street.

Swan and Christina Turnblad only lived in the mansion for twenty years, at which time it was donated to become a Swedish cultural center. That center has evolved into the American Swedish Institute as we know it today.

Each December, the mansion is transformed into an amazing display of Scandinavian holiday celebrations, with the numerous rooms representing how Christmas is experienced in those various countries.

This year’s holiday exhibit concludes this weekend, so you still have time to see it if you haven’t already. It is definitely a must see event.

Castle Trees.

This year's theme was royalty and here are some of the Holiday Crowns.