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Historic Preservation Sites
Severance House (Cedarhurst)
6940 Keats Ave.
The Cedarhurst estate of St. Paul attorney Cordenio A. Severance and his wife Mary A. Harriman
Severance started with a simple rustic farmhouse built shortly after the Civil War. This modest dwelling was
enlarged in 1886 to serve as the Severances' summerhouse. Between 1911 and 1917, the Severances transformed the
property into a 26-room Neoclassical Revival style mansion with twin classical columned porticoes, a 100 ft.
veranda, a formal ballroom with an aeolean pipe organ, three fireplaces, and an English rose garden. Teddy Roosevelt,
Warren G. Harding, and other notables were among the Severances' guests at Cedarhurst. The house is recognized as
an important work by the prestigious New York City architect Cass Gilbert, who also designed the Minnesota
State Capitol as well as many other landmark buildings.
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City Gov't