FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, DECEMBER 11, 2008
Contact:
Connie Nompelis, Chair, CANDO Housing Committee
612-396-4046 (mobile)
Neighborhood to Hear Arguments on Demolition of Historic Pauline Fjelde House
Minneapolis, MN – On Saturday, December 13, 2008, at 10:30 a.m. the Housing
Committee of the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO)
will hold a special neighborhood meeting to address wide-spread concerns
regarding a request for demolition of a historic house at 3009 Park Avenue.
Area residents will hear from the property owner about his desire to demolish
the former home of acclaimed artisan Pauline Fjelde in order to install a
surface parking lot to serve his adjacent commercial structure. Attendees will
also hear from local historians and art history experts who wish to save the
home due to its historical significance.
Pauline Fjelde was a highly skilled weaver and needlework artist and is perhaps
most notable locally for having embroidered the first Minnesota State flag
along with her sister Thomane, who was also an accomplished textile artist. The
original flag still hangs in the State Capital rotunda. Pauline Fjelde is also
credited with bringing the European Arts and Crafts movement to
Norwegian-American textile arts, and some of her most important works—which she
created during the time that she lived at 3009 Park Avenue between 1908 and
1918—have been on display with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Art
Institute of Chicago, and in a permanent collection at the Vesterheim
Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa.
Pauline hailed from a well-known and influential family of artisans, and many
historians credit the Fjelde family with helping to establish Minneapolis as a
prominent center for the arts. In particular, Pauline’s brother, Jacob Fjelde,
was a highly successful sculptor whose works include the Goddess of Wisdom
sculpture at the Minneapolis Public Library, the iconic Hiawatha and Minnehaha
sculpture at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, the Ole Bull sculpture in Loring
Park, and the life size bust of Henrik Ibsen in Como Park in St. Paul.
3009 Park Avenue was originally designed for Pauline Fjelde in 1907 by
architects Boehme and Cordella who also designed—among other notable
structures—the Swan J. Turnblad Mansion (current home of the American Swedish
Institute) at 2600 Park Avenue, just four blocks north of the Fjelde home.
Saturday’s meeting will take place at La Vina Restaurant, 3010 4th Avenue
South, in Minneapolis.
For more information about CANDO, visit www.candompls.org.
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Connie Nompelis
Central Neighborhood