Ask a local where to spend an unhurried day in Minneapolis and you’ll hear the usual suspects — the lakes, the riverfront, downtown. But tucked just south of downtown is Whittier, a neighborhood where Gilded Age mansions share blocks with one of the best dining streets in the Midwest — and where one particular mansion will pour you a drink at the end of the day. Here’s how to do Whittier right, from morning until well after dark.

Start with 5,000 years of art — for free

The Minneapolis Institute of Art anchors the neighborhood, and general admission to its world-spanning collection is always free. Give it a couple of hours — the period rooms alone are worth the trip, and they set the mood perfectly for the mansion streets you’re about to walk. One tip: Mia is closed Mondays, and Thursday evenings it stays open late, which pairs beautifully with everything below.

Wander the mansion district

Step out of the museum and you’re in what was once the most fashionable address in Minneapolis. Flour barons, lumber kings, and streetcar magnates built their showpieces here, and many still stand — including the Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion at 100 East 22nd Street, now home to the Pillsbury Club. We’ll keep the history short here, because our History Journal tells those stories properly — who built these houses, what became of the families, and why this neighborhood froze in amber. For the deep dives into Minnesota’s past beyond our block, the Minnesota Historical Society is the authority.

Take a guided tour of the Pillsbury Mansion

You don’t have to admire these houses from the sidewalk. The Pillsbury Club runs guided mansion tours year-round — carved oak, stained glass, hidden corners, and just enough ghost stories to keep you glancing over your shoulder. Tours are open to guests with a reservation, so plan your visit before you come.

Dinner on Eat Street

A few blocks west, Nicollet Avenue becomes Eat Street — a stretch of independent, often family-run restaurants covering half the world’s cuisines in about seventeen blocks. Vietnamese, Jamaican, Chinese, Mexican, doughnuts that defy description — pick a direction and walk until something smells irresistible. Prefer to stay in the mansion? The Club’s own dining room has you covered without ever leaving 1916.

End the night behind the right door

After dark is when the Pillsbury Club is at its best. The speakeasy-style bar pours themed cocktails with a properly spooky streak, the private theater flickers to life, and the club rooms glow the way only a century-old mansion can. If that sounds like your kind of evening, you’re not alone — we wrote a whole guide to finding a speakeasy-style night out in Minneapolis, and another on making it a date night in a Gilded Age mansion.

Make a full Minneapolis day (or weekend) of it

The Club is also the boarding point for Minneapolis Trolley Tours — vintage trolley sightseeing, ghost, and true-crime tours that roll right out from the mansion. Staying overnight? The 300 Clifton bed & breakfast, a fellow historic mansion in nearby Loring Park, is the natural pairing, and Oakland’s on 9th downtown suits longer stays. One neighborhood, one very good day.

Ready to see Whittier the way it was meant to be seen — from inside its grandest house? Reserve your visit to the Pillsbury Club, or book a mansion tour. The door creaks open for those who plan ahead.

Keep reading: How do you move a 400-year-old plaster ceiling across an ocean? — the story of the Tudor ceilings inside the Pillsbury Mansion, a few blocks from where you are standing.