6940 Keats Ave S
Cottage Grove, MN, USA

Cordenio Severance House

The Cordenio Severance House is a mansion in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, United States, built for attorney Cordenio Severance (1862–1925). The mansion, also known as Cedarhurst, was first built as a simple country farm house shortly after the American Civil War. It was expanded in 1886 to serve as the summer residence of the Severance family. Between 1911 and 1917, additions designed by architect Cass Gilbert expanded the house into a mansion with 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) and 26 rooms. The Cordenio Severance House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 for its local significance in the themes of architecture and law. It was nominated for its association with Cordenio Severance, a leading attorney in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1887 to the 1920s, and for being an example of a grand country estate. The mansion now serves as an event venue.

Description

The Cordenio Severance House has two Neoclassical columned porticos, a 100-foot (30 m) veranda, a formal ballroom with a pipe organ, three fireplaces, and an English rose garden.


History

Cordenio Severance was well-connected politically. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and William Howard Taft all visited the mansion, and Central Intelligence Agency meetings were once held in the library. The mansion also hosted international policy meetings.

The house is now owned by True Thao and his family. They have restored the mansion, which hosts weddings, receptions, and business meetings.

National Register of Historic Places - Cordenio Severance House

Statement of Significance:

The significance of this house lies in its association with Cordenio Severance, a leading St. Paul attorney from 1887 through the 1920s, and as an example of an opulent country estate.

In 1887, Cordenio Severance, one time President of the American Bar Association joined in partnership with Cushman Kellogg Davis, Governor of Minnesota, United States Senator, ‘Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and scholar, and with Frank B. Kellogg, United States Senator, Ambassador to Great Britain, Secretary of State, co-author of the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, and Justice of the World Court. The firm of Davis, Kellogg, and Severance enjoyed a large practice and handled several important cases in the state.

Cordenio Severance's country estate took its present shape in 1917. Cass Gilbert was commissioned at that time to transform an existing house into a massive Neo-Classic residence suitable for entertaining large groups of people. Although not documented, Severance's house was reported to have been a meeting place for government official. The guests are said to have included not only St. Paul's elite but also Queen Marie of Romania, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Warren G. Harding. It has been reported that during the 1920s drafts of the Kellogg-Briand. Peace Pact were written by Kellogg at this house.

The Cordenio Severance House is currently privately owned and serves as a single-family residence.