fairlawn mansion & museum

Wonderful old mansion with a very interesting history. Don't travel through Superior without stopping.

This little know museum is run by the same people who take care of Fairlawn Museum in Superior, WI. It is free and simply a wonderful place for children and adults to take time to experience the history of fire fighting. I don't know any child that would not love seeing all the red fire trucks, and be able to climb on one. Its free and is on two floors, a real hands on museum. My grandchildren spent about an hour and they are 9, 7, 6 years old and liked dressing up in fire fighting clothing.

They are still working on this but it's a must see to learn of the history of this home. We will definitely return in the future.

What a beautiful mansion! It would be so nice to go back in time and see this bustling with activity!

Mayomomma,Thank you for taking the time to review your experience at Fairlawn Mansion & Museum. Comments help us to know where we can make improvements to meet and exceed guests' expectations.As I mentioned in earlier responses, we have undergone a significant change in staffing this year, with many of our well seasoned student tour guides moving on to new opportunities in their lives. Our goal is to rebuild a top-notch staff of tour guides and thanks to your comment, we will remind them to include more of the history of the family - and to repeatedly encourage visitors to ask questions. There is so much information available, trying to cover it all would make the tour far too long.

When my children were young when we visited my hometown, I would always bring them to Fairlawn Museum. The house itself is in excellent condition and various interesting exhibits are found through out. Along with this is a gorgeous view of Park Point and Barkers Island.

This attraction was just across from our hotel. I enjoyed seeing it. It has an interesting history. I did like the Glenshine mansion better but enjoyed this one as well.

Schaefers,We are truly sorry that your experience was less than expected. With staff changes this summer, we are not unlike the winning ball team whose seniors have all graduated and gone on to better opportunities. Our few seasoned guides are working hard to train and groom our new crop of student tour guides to meet our standards. Along with being an historical site and tourist attraction, we take pride in contributing to the development of young people for the workforce.It is true that we are not Glensheen, however, we feel that Fairlawn's smaller scale affords an ambiance of more intimacy while accurately depicting the family life of one of Superior's leading citizens at a time when the booming city was nicknamed the Eye of the Northwest. Further, our very affordable tour fee accurately reflects the comparison of the two sites.In addition, Fairlawn is unique in it's history as being both the palatial home to a wealthy family, and home to more than 2,000 children and young women of need during the 42 years the mansion served as the Superior Children's Home and Refuge. It is interesting to note, that none of the original woodwork, numerous fireplace mantles, tile work, stained glass and leaded windows in the home had to be replaced during the restoration. Despite being a children's home, the mansion's integrity was well preserved.We at Superior Public Museums feel all of these things make the tour of Fairlawn Mansion an interesting and worthwhile experience, while we continue our efforts to move into further phases of restoration.

Wife loves Victorian Architecture so we stopped and she risked her life, standing in the middle of the highway to get a picture of this house. From the outside it is a beautiful and quite large structure and I'm sure just as beautiful inside. Due to time we did not get to tour it.

evilynkitty,Thank you for taking the time to write a review. We strive to provide the utmost in customer satisfaction and in some cases, knowing there is a problem is our first step.Our apologies for the improperly posted hours. We spent the summer training in a mostly new staff, and they are sometimes confused by the difference of our business hours, which are until 5 pm, and tour hours. We have rectified that and believe it is now well explained in all of our marketing, including that which is on-site.

As tour guides, we always appreciate it when we get an experienced guide. We arrived at Fairlawn 2 minutes before the last tour of the day was to begin. We were the only customers but Sarah (??) cheerfully closed the gift shop and took us through the house. It was basically a private tour. She answered most of our questions (of which we had many!) and explained much of the restoration ideas that are on-going. Highly recommend!

Took my mom in July. Tour was good, but only part of the house is restored and other areas need lots of work. What's done is very nice, but the house is definitely a work in progress.

This tour was $8 & we understood why after the fact. Out of 42 rooms in the mansion the tour includes approximately 17 of them. It was well worth the $8 and the renovations are incredible. I would certainly be interested in returning after additional work is completed. Our tour guide was outstanding and welcomed our questions. Anyone interested in the great architecture really will enjoy this mansion.

Love the victorian feel! Glensheen is nice but I would love to live here. They have redone the first floor a few years ago. Hand stencilled ceilings, this feels like a home.

The house was beautiful and has a lot of history. The materials used in this house surpased even the Glensheen mansion in Duluth. It isn't a very big tour, but you do get to see a lot of the 1st floor. The tour is maybe an hour but the house is very well restored.