Cedarhurst

Cedarhurst, the Cottage Grove home of Cordenio Severance

Information

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 3, 1976

History

The Cedarhurst estate of St. Paul attorney Cordenio A. Severance and his wife Mary A. Harriman Severance started with a simple rustic farmhouse built shortly after the Civil War. This modest dwelling was enlarged in 1886 to serve as the Severances' summer house. Between 1911 and 1917, the Severances transformed the property into a 26-room Neoclassical Revival style mansion with twin classical columned porticoes, a 100 ft. veranda, a formal ballroom with an aeolean pipe organ, three fireplaces, and an English rose garden. Teddy Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, and other notables were among the Severances' guests at Cedarhurst. The house is recognized as an important work by the prestigious New York City architect Cass Gilbert, who also designed the Minnesota State Capitol as well as many other landmark buildings.