Glensheen exhibit links historic mansion to local craft traditions

Glensheen opened a members-only preview Thursday for “Crafting a Gilded Estate,” an exhibit that pairs Chester and Clara Congdon-era artifacts with work by local artisans. The show opened to the public Friday, June 26, and puts metal, pottery and ceramics, lace and glass at the center of a new effort to keep the Duluth landmark drawing repeat visitors.

The exhibit gives the historic mansion a purpose beyond display cases. Kendall Lotto, Glensheen’s marketing and communications specialist, said the goal was to show how detailed craft skills survive only when people keep teaching them, and she pointed to continuing Northland traditions in blacksmithing and glassblowing. That framing fits this year’s America 250 anniversary, using the Congdon story to connect the mansion’s past to skills still practiced in St. Louis County and across the region.

Glensheen is built to carry that message. The 39-room mansion sits on a 12-acre estate on London Road and has 15 bedrooms, 15 fireplaces, ten bathrooms and about 20,000 square feet of interior space. Construction began in 1905, and the Congdon family moved in in November 1908, placing the house squarely in the Gilded Age era that Glensheen says its architecture and collections reflect. The estate also includes the Carriage House, Gardener’s Cottage, Boathouse, formal gardens, vegetable gardens, a tennis court and a large pier, turning the site into a full historic campus rather than a single preserved home.

That scale matters for Duluth’s tourism economy. Glensheen is one of the city’s most visible attractions, and a new exhibit there gives members, tourists and local residents another reason to come onto the grounds, walk the estate and engage with local makers. By linking historic objects to present-day craftsmanship, the mansion is using its collections to reinforce the value of labor, artistry and preservation in the modern Northland.

The timing also fits Glensheen’s broader calendar, which includes community and family programs, seasonal celebrations and member-exclusive events. “Crafting a Gilded Estate” extends that model by making the mansion’s history useful in the present, tying a landmark home on the shore of Lake Superior to the crafts and skills that still shape life in Duluth.