Railroad and Bank Building
180 East Fifth | |
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![]() One of the recessed entrances | |
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General information | |
Type | Highrise office |
Location | 180 E Fifth St Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
Coordinates | 44°56′51″N 93°05′21″W / 44.9476°N 93.0891°W |
Completed | 1916 |
Height | 198 feet (60 m) |
Dimensions | |
Other dimensions | 291.9 ft × 233.1 ft (89.0 m × 71.0 m) |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Steel frame |
Material | Brick |
Floor count | 14 |
Floor area | 668,321 sq ft (62,089 m2)[1][a] |
Lifts/elevators | 12 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Charles Sumner Frost |
Website | |
180wastfifth | |
Railroad and Bank Building | |
Classical Revival | |
Part of | Lowertown Historic District |
NRHP reference No. | 83000935[3] |
Added to NRHP | February 21, 1983 |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Great_Northern_Building_Construction.jpg/220px-Great_Northern_Building_Construction.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/180_East_Fifth%2C_Saint_Paul%2C_MN%2C_SW_corner.jpg/220px-180_East_Fifth%2C_Saint_Paul%2C_MN%2C_SW_corner.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Jackson_Tower_and_180_East_Fifth%2C_Saint_Paul%2C_MN.jpg/220px-Jackson_Tower_and_180_East_Fifth%2C_Saint_Paul%2C_MN.jpg)
The Railroad and Bank Building at 176 E. 5th Street in
Background
Railroad magnate
Hill sought to build a new headquarters building for his empire around this time, to replace the c. 1887 Great Northern Building at 300 Wall Street in St. Paul.
A building construction committee was formed with a representative from each company, the Northern Pacific
Architecture
The
The foundation was constructed to be able to support an additional four floors.[8] The building was reported to contain 934,000 sq ft (86,800 m2). It has a steel frame and concrete floor slabs. Finish materials include brick, marble, and terra cotta. Construction started in February 1914 with the demolition of the existing buildings on the site, and was completed by December 1, 1915. The project engineer was Toltz Engineering Co. and the builder was Grant Smith, both of St. Paul.[8] Materials for the building were provided by Joe Shiely Sr as seen in the photo.
The building included a 1,600 sq ft (150 m2) bungalow-style cottage on the roof that included a room for board meetings and two bedrooms where out-of-town board members could stay.[8] The bank had a retail banking operation on the first floor in the center of the building in an atrium with a height of 53 ft (16 m).[9] The open area above the central interior courtyard provided daylight and ventilation to the inside offices on the higher floors.[5]
The utilities (heat, electricity, and water) were common and the three companies bickered over their share of the cost until the 1970 merger of the two railroads with the
Later history
The 232-by-290-foot (71 m × 88 m) building was the largest office building in the Upper Midwest until the 1973 completion of the 51-story IDS Center in Minneapolis. A deteriorating band of decorative terra cotta near the top was removed in the mid-1970s and the original cast iron window frames were replaced with more energy efficient windows by the early 1980s.[5]
The Palmer Group, a local developer, bought the building from the Burlington Northern in December, 1984 and initiated a $9.7 million renovation of 65,000 sq ft (6,000 m2) on the first two floors, converting them into retail space. Restaurant tenants included Burger King and other fast food outlets, a departure from the other kinds of restaurants found in the area. The railroad's former cafeteria, an 80 by 80 ft (24 by 24 m) space in the center of the building, was turned back into an atrium with the original 53 ft (16 m) high skylit roof restored.[11]
As of 2011, the building had a 55-person conference center and a 267-seat theater that tenants could use for meetings such as lectures, training sessions, community meetings, and other events. A bigger meeting space, the two-story Great Hall banquet center, seats 500 people.[12] The first two floors were remodeled and the owner planned to continue renovating the building, including the addition of a tenant fitness center.[12]
The building was purchased in receivership in 2019 for $52 million by New York City-based Gamma Real Estate, which has spent $2.5 million on remodeling, including $1 million on the Great Hall. The Great Hall, once hosting private events such as weddings, was made into an amenity for building workers.[13] The building was rebranded as the Great Northern Building at this time.[14]
As of 2021[update], the building has the most rentable office space in downtown St. Paul.[6] It is connected by skyway to four different surrounding structures.[6] Most floors have 50,000 to 55,000 sq ft (4,600 to 5,100 m2) of rentable space.[12]
Names
The building has had many different names: (in chronological order)[6]
- Railroad and Bank Building
- Great Northern Railroad Building
- Burlington Northern Building
- First Trust Center
- US Bank & Trust Building
- US Bank Trust Center
- 180 East Fifth
- Great Northern Building (since 2019)[1]
Incidents
On September 1, 1970, several bombs were detonated in several locations around St. Paul. The heaviest damage was from a bomb left in a rear service door of the building that damaged a freight elevator
Tenants
Seven hundred employees of the
Notes
References
- ^ a b "Great Northern Building". cbre. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ a b "Great Northern Building". commercialcafe.com. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ "National Register Information System – (#83000935)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g White, Bruce M. (Spring 1978). "WORKING FOR THE RAILROAD Life in the General Offices of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific, 1915–21" (PDF). Minnesota History: 25–30. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Murphy, Patricia; Susan Granger (November 30, 1981). National Register of Historic Places Registration: Lowertown Historic District (PDF) (Report). National Park Service. Retrieved April 27, 2013. Or try this version at National Archives
- ^ a b c d "180 East Fifth". Emporis. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ a b "Downtown St. Paul 1849–1975" (PDF). St. Paul Historic Context Studies. St. Paul Preservation Heritage Committee. May 2001.
- ^ a b c "Largest Building in St. Paul Completed". Engineering News Record. Vol. 75, no. 2. January 13, 1916. p. 94. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
- ISBN 9780873515405.
- ^ Hage, Dave (October 7, 1981). "Workers say BN slighting railroad". The Minneapolis Star. pp. 1C, 2C. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Jossi, Frank (August 11, 2011). "Building Blocks – 180 East Fifth". Finance & Commerce. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Downtown St. Paul's Great Northern building reinvents itself during pandemic". twincities.com. Pioneer Press. June 6, 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ "180 East Fifth Transforms into The Great Northern Building – Renovations Coming Soon". trammelcrow.com. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ Black, Sam (April 15, 2015). "Green Tree will move 800 St. Paul employees to Lowertown". Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
External links
Media related to Lowertown Historic District (Saint Paul, Minnesota) at Wikimedia Commons
- Lowertown.info – an online visitor's guide, news magazine, and community information portal serving the arts neighborhood of Lowertown, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
- Lowertown Landing neighborhood organization