It was originally built for Sumner T. McKnight, a businessman who had interests in lumber and real estate.

[3] Architecture critic Larry Millett calls it, "A Romanesque Revival hunk and one of the grand houses of the city.

"[2] The exterior, of rusticated Lake Superior sandstone, features a terrace, an arched entrance porch, carved ornamental panels, and a crested dormer on the roof's peak.

The interior, in Victorian style, is lushly decorated with oak and sycamore woodwork, Tiffany & Co. lighting, and gold-leaf scrollwork.

[1] Media related to George R. Newell House (Minneapolis) at Wikimedia Commons