Frogner Manor (Frogner Hovedgård) is located on a former estate in an area that became part of today's borough of Frogner in Oslo, Norway. The estate is now the site of Frognerparken. The 18th century buildings on the grounds are now maintained by the Oslo City Museum.
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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 General of the Modums Blaafarveværk, Jacob Benjamin Wegner.[1] In 1848 Fredrik Georg Gade, a wealthy merchant from Bergen, Norway, 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.[2] 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.[3]
Major parts of the farmland belonging to the manor was 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.[4]
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. The remaining grounds were designated as a public park, today's Frognerparken. The Vigeland Sculpture Park now occupies large portions of this park.
The Norse form of the name was Fraunar. The name is probably derived from the word fraud 'manure' - and then with the meaning 'fertilized ground' (se also Tøyen).
The seter (mountain dairy farm) of Frogner was situated near the summit of the Holmenkollen hill north of Oslo. The name is still preserved in the terminal Frognerseteren station of the suburban Holmenkoll Line, opened in 1898 and extended in 1916.