It is a fair question, and people are often too polite to ask it at the door. You have walked into an oak-panelled Gilded Age mansion with centuries-old English interiors and a speakeasy-style bar in it, and your first instinct is to reach for your phone. So: what are the rules?

The Pillsbury Club publishes a photography policy, and rather than paraphrase it loosely, here is what it actually covers.

What the policy restricts

The restrictions are aimed at two specific things: professional and commercial work, and other people’s privacy.

• Professional and commercial work needs written permission in advance. That covers photo shoots, promotional videos, commercial filming and content creation, and it explicitly includes the use of professional cameras, lighting equipment, tripods and drones. Requests have to be approved beforehand — see photo and video permissions.
• People need to consent before you photograph them. Guests may not photograph, film or record Club employees, tour guides, performers or other guests without their consent. Anything that infringes on another guest’s privacy or disrupts the experience may be restricted.

The full text sits on the Club policies page, along with everything else worth knowing before you arrive — the Club is open to guests with a valid ticket or reservation for that day, smoking and vaping are prohibited throughout, outside food and drink are not permitted, and parking is on nearby public streets or in the lot across the street.

If you are booking a shoot, not a night out

The mansion is genuinely a good building to photograph, and people ask about it for engagements, portraits, editorial work and film. That is a separate conversation from a night at the bar, and it starts on the photo and video permissions page rather than at the door on the evening.

Ask early. Approval is required in advance, and the rooms are in use for tours, dining and private events, so availability is the real constraint rather than willingness.

The rooms people actually want to photograph

For the record, here is what tends to stop guests mid-sentence.

The bar. It is a speakeasy-style room built inside a mansion, with the woodwork and the stained glass of the original house around it, and a drinks list that runs from Minnesota beer to spirits from further afield. We wrote about it separately in where to get a cocktail inside a historic Minneapolis mansion.

The staircase and the great hall, which are the parts of the house that came from England and are the reason the building is on the National Register. The splendors page is the best introduction to what you are looking at, and there is a great deal more in our History Journal.

The club rooms, including the Emerald Suite, a private second-floor lounge that seats up to ten and is a favourite for birthdays and small celebrations.

A word in favour of putting the phone down

We are not going to pretend we do not want the photographs — this is a beautiful building and we are glad when people share it. But the rooms reward being looked at directly. The carved oak has depth that a phone flattens, and the guides on the year-round mansion tour will show you things you would walk straight past with a camera in front of you.

Take the picture. Then put it away for ten minutes and look at the ceiling.

Plan your visit

The Club is open to guests with a reservation. Book a table, a tour or an experience through plan your visit or experiences and tours, and if it is your first time, our guide to what to expect on a first visit covers the rest.

And if you are travelling in, the Club sits inside a small collection of historic Minneapolis properties: 300 Clifton, a mansion bed and breakfast in Loring Park, and Oakland’s on 9th for longer downtown stays. Minneapolis Trolley Tours departs from our front door.

Keep reading: What Did Mary Pillsbury Lord Do During the Second World War?