Neighborhood: Phillips West

Construction Date: 1905

Contractor: August Cedarstrand

Architect: August Cedarstrand

Architectural Style: Classical Revival

Historic Use: Private Residence

Current Use: Private Residence

Date of Local Designation: 1998

Date of National Register Designation: N/A

Area(s) of Significance: Social History

Period of Significance: 1905-1938

Historic Profile: The Frank and Karen Brooberg residence is a remnant of a turn-of-the-century South Minneapolis residential community created by the influx of Swedish immigrants in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Relocating from the Seven Corners area, many Swedes moved to the area south of Franklin Avenue, a community with varied housing stock ranging from fashionable urban estates along Park Avenue to working class homes adjacent to the railroad tracks. The house designed for Frank Brooberg by his brother-in-law, August Cedarstrand, sought to reflect his good fortune. Brooberg, the director of the Scandinavian American Bank, represented a generation of immigrants who had moved out of old settlement neighborhoods to achieve success in Minneapolis. The two-and-one-half story, woodframe house has a square plan with a steep, hipped roof intersected by prominent gabled dormers. The façade is dominated by a wrap-around porch with classical detailing and a Palladian window in the front gable. It remained in the family until 1958 when it was sold to Mt. Sinai Hospital to act as a dormitory for nurses. In the 1990s it was returned to a private residence.

Photo Credits:

2006, Minneapolis CPED

Works Cited:

"City of Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission Registration Form," May 1996.

Updated: February 2007