American Swedish Institute collection

Swan Turnblad (1860-1934) was born in Sweden, immigrated to America with his parents as a child, and was educated in the schools at Vasa, Goodhue County, Minnesota. He took charge of the Svenska Amerikanska Posten in 1886, a Swedish-language newspaper published in Minneapolis. By the turn of the century, he had made the Svenska Amerikanska Posten the largest Swedish-language paper in the United States. In 1903, Turnblad commissioned Christopher Boehme and Victor Cordella, architects of Minneapolis, to design a mansion for him at 2600 Park Avenue, which now houses the American Swedish Institute.

W. H. Dennis was born in New York State in 1845, studied architecture in Paris for 2 years, and is known to have worked in Ohio and Michigan before coming to Minneapolis. He specialized in the design of commercial buildings and large residences. Frank G. Cauffman, an architect from Roxborough, PA created the second set of alternative plans for the Turnblad mansion.

The Posten Building was built from Christopher Boehme’s design to house the Svenska Amerikanska Posten. Boehme was born in Minneapolis and educated at the University of Minnesota. From 1903 to 1911 he was in partnership with Victor Cordella (1872-1937), during which time they designed the Turnblad residence. The Posten Building was designed while Boehme was practicing alone in 1915.