The owner, George Washington Van Dusen, was an entrepreneur who founded Minnesota's first and most prosperous grain processing and distribution firm in 1883.

His house reflects the prosperity achieved by business owners who were making money in the flourishing grain, railroad, and lumber industries in the late 19th century.

[2] The mansion is generally within the Richardsonian Romanesque form, but it also has French Renaissance design elements, such as steep roofs, and a soaring, slender turret topped with a copper finial.

It contains ten fireplaces, a grand staircase, large skylights, carved woodwork, parquet floors, and a tile mosaic in the entryway.

[11] Organizations that operated from the mansion over the years include the Hamline University Law School, U.S. Communications, and Horst International Education Center, a predecessor of the Aveda Corporation.

[15] This included restoring the exterior finishes, replacing windows, installing a new heating system, and repairing external and internal doors.

Local craftspeople and artisans repaired and refinished woodwork, and a California carpenter replaced staircase balusters and bead molding.

A week later, the property was flipped for the same price into the account of Oxford Global Advisors, a firm managed by Bo Beckman.

Beckman, who claimed to be among the nation's top money managers, steered investors into programs run by Cook in exchange for "rebates."