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CategoriesHistory JournalThree painted-glass panels in the Pillsbury Mansion windows labeled America, Europa and Africa, each a single costumed figure inside an octagonal leaded frame

Why Are There Painted Figures Labeled America, Europa and Africa in the Pillsbury Mansion’s Windows?

By John K

Painted glass figures labeled America, Europa and Africa sit in the Pillsbury Mansion's windows. Here…

CategoriesHistory JournalColour illustration of the Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion in 1916, showing the full corner site, the gabled roofline, the clustered chimney stacks and the balustraded terrace wall along the street.

What Do Two Snapshots of the Pillsbury Mansion’s First Winters Show Us?

By John K

Two undated family photos show the Pillsbury Mansion in its earliest winters, when the landscaping…

CategoriesHistory JournalPeriod photograph, 1909: Helen “Nelle” Pillsbury seated against oak panelling with four of her children in white dresses and hair bows, eight years before the Christmas cotillion at the new mansion

Did the Pillsbury Children Spend Their Summers at Lake Minnetonka?

By John K

A handwritten family photo places young Katharine and Philip Pillsbury at Wayzata — a look…

CategoriesHistory JournalColour illustration of the Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion in 1916, showing the full corner site, the gabled roofline, the clustered chimney stacks and the balustraded terrace wall along the street.

Why Is There a Luther Rose in the Pillsbury Mansion’s Stained Glass?

By John K

Among centuries-old English and Continental glass, one small roundel is a Lutheran devotional seal —…

CategoriesHistory JournalA leaded stained glass roundel in a Pillsbury Mansion window: a heraldic shield, a crowned lion, a helmeted figure, a bearded man in a ruff and the date 1636.

Why Does the Pillsbury Mansion’s 1636 Stained Glass Roundel Carry Two Different Dates? Reading a Window Made of Fragments

By John K

A stained glass roundel in the Pillsbury Mansion is dated 1636, but a portrait inside…

CategoriesClub LifeA vintage white Minneapolis Trolley waiting at dusk outside the lit arched entrance of the Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion, with the stone gate piers alongside.

Did the Same Architect Design Both Mansions on the Minneapolis Gilded Age Mansion Tour? Edwin Hewitt, 300 Clifton and the Pillsbury Mansion

By John K

Edwin Hewitt reshaped 300 Clifton in 1906 and designed the Pillsbury Mansion in 1912–14. Meet…

CategoriesHistory JournalColour illustration of the Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion in 1916, showing the full corner site, the gabled roofline, the clustered chimney stacks and the balustraded terrace wall along the street.

Why Was Duveen Brothers Still Writing to the Pillsbury Next Door in 1947? A Carbon Copy From the Family Files

By John K

A 1947 Duveen Brothers letter to Alfred F. Pillsbury, found in the family files, shows…

CategoriesHistory JournalPage 15 of Town & Country magazine, January 20, 1916: a full-page Arnold Genthe portrait of Mrs. Charles S. Pillsbury (Nelle Pendleton Winston) seated with chin on hand

Why Was Nelle Pillsbury the Frontispiece of Town & Country in January 1916? Reading the Arnold Genthe Page That Introduced the Mansion to New York

By John K

In January 1916 Town & Country ran an Arnold Genthe portrait of Nelle Pillsbury and…

CategoriesHistory JournalPeriod photograph, 1929: the three Pillsbury sisters at Mary's wedding in the mansion, from left Helen, the bride Mary, and Katharine, who would marry in Paris five months later.

Which Pillsbury Daughter Was Married in Paris? Katharine Pillsbury’s Wedding at the American Cathedral, May 1930

By John K

A May 1930 Minneapolis Journal column records Katharine Pillsbury's Paris wedding to Elliott Bates McKee…

CategoriesHistory JournalA dark oak-panelled club room inside the Pillsbury Mansion, with a carved stone chimneypiece and a long table set beneath leaded windows.

What Did an Advertising Agency Pay for the Pillsbury Mansion in 1978? A Tribune Reporter’s Tour of Carmichael-Lynch’s New Offices

By John K

In July 1978 the Minneapolis Tribune toured the Pillsbury Mansion as Carmichael-Lynch's new offices: $240,000…

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