Christian Klein was a big deal in the small town of Chaska when he built his Italian Renaissance mansion in 1911. He and his brother, Charles, dominated Chaska's brick-making industry and also founded the city's first bank.
More than 50 years later, the city took ownership of the downtown house and used it as City Hall for two decades. The council held its meetings in the third-floor ballroom, while the basement housed the police department and jail. Later, the drivers' exam station operated out of the main floor, while the Chaska Historical Society was housed on the third.
The city eventually sold the mansion to a private owner, who didn't live in it. The grand house sat vacant for several years before its purchase by current owners, Sarah and Neil Amundsen, who are living in it while restoring it.
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