Frogner Manor - History

History

The manor house was built in 1750 by major Hans Jacob Scheel, the first owner to make Frogner his permanent residence. In 1790 the estate was bought by timber merchant and shipowner Bernt Anker (1746–1805), Norway's richest person at the time. He extended the main building to its present size. He died a childless widower in 1805, and Frogner was bought by his nephew Morten Anker in 1807. His business was hard hit by the economic depression during and after the Napoleonic wars, and he eventually went bankrupt and was forced to sell Frogner by auction in 1836. The buyer was the director of the Modums Blaafarveværk, Jacob Benjamin Wegner, who was married to Henriette Seyler of the Hamburg Berenberg-Gossler-Seyler banking dynasty. In 1848 Fredrik Georg Gade, a wealthy merchant from Bergen, purchased the manor. His heirs held the property in joint ownership, under the management of his son Gerhard Gade (1839–1909). He was married to an American, Hellen Allyne, and was the United States consul in Oslo. The former U.S. president and general Ulysses S. Grant visited Kristiania in the summer of 1878, and attended a gala dinner at Frogner with his entourage.

Major parts of the farmland belonging to the manor was sold and built up through the end of the 19th century as the city expanded, but around one square kilometer remained when the city of Oslo bought the property in 1896 to secure space for further urban development and a new cemetery. The last private owner, Gerhard Gade, retained the right to inhabit the house until his death in 1909. This spared the house from demolition, and an economic recession prevented further building on the land.

In the meantime, the house was recognised as an important cultural monument. It was restored and placed at the disposal of the Oslo City Museum.