Richardsonian Romanesque St. Paul - Part IV

In this last of four installments examining Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in St. Paul, Minnesota, we will look at two of the treasures this city has to offer architecture enthusiasts – the James J. Hill House and Laurel Terrace.

James J. Hill House

240 Summit Avenue

Peabody, Stearns, and Furber, architects

1888-1891

The largest house on Summit Avenue and in St. Paul is the imposing James J. Hill House.   Hill made his fortune in the railroad industry, becoming one of its most prominent and successful advocates.  His big break came in 1878, when he purchased the struggling St. Paul and Pacific Railroad with several other investors.  By 1890, he had greatly expanded the railroad from Canada to the Pacific Ocean, renaming it the Great Northern Railway.  He was active in numerous other businesses as well, amassing a fortune estimated at $63 million by the time of his death in 1916 – truly one of the most powerful figures of the Gilded Age. 

Rear of the Hill House

The house derives its power from its size and massing.  Faced in East Longmeadow sandstone from Massachusetts, the structure contains 36,000 square feet of living space including 42 rooms (not including 13 bathrooms, a fourth floor theater, and numerous cellars and storerooms).  The most prominent interior spaces include the reception hall nearly 100 feet long and the two-story skylit art gallery.  

Front entrance beneath porte cochere

It took three years to complete construction, and the final cost was $522,000.  An additional $400,000 was spent for the three acres of land, interior decoration, furnishings, landscaping, separate gatehouse, conservatories, power plant and “mushroom cave.”  At its completion in 1891, it was the largest and most expensive home ever built in Minnesota.

Hill was intimately involved in the design and completion of his home, rejecting Tiffany’s designs for the stair hall windows and even dismissing the architects and hiring another firm (Irving and Casson of Boston) to complete the interiors.  His desire was for a home that portrayed his success, but was not overly ornate – preferring scale over excessively detailing to impress visitors.  Even so, the interior contains 22 fireplaces, 16 chandeliers and elaborately carved oak and mahogany woodwork.

His widow remained in the house until her death in 1921.  Four years later, the family presented the home and some of the furnishings to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul (Mrs. Hill was a devout Roman Catholic).   It was acquired by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1978 and has been open to the public since that time.   Tours are offered on a regular basis, and include the expansive basement level highlighting the work spaces of the large live-in staff such as the intact laundry room and boiler room.

Basement window design similar to Glessner House

For more information, visit www.mnhs.org/hillhouse. 

Laurel Terrace

286-294 Laurel Avenue

Willcox and Johnston, architects

1887

One of the unexpected surprises in St. Paul is Laurel Terrace, which is described in the AIA Guide to St. Paul’s Summit Avenue & Hill District as “one of the finest Victorian row houses in the United States.”  Featured in several major guidebooks to American architecture, the grouping of seven row houses is Richardsonian Romanesque at its finest in terms of materials, massing, and details.  It is the work of William Willcox and Clarence Johnston, local architects whose brief partnership in the late 1880s produced a number of significant buildings in St. Paul, of which this is generally regarded as their masterpiece.   The total cost of construction was $75,000.

Laurel Terrace is situated at a skewed intersection of Laurel Avenue and Nina Street, giving it a commanding presence at a corner that extends greater than 90 degrees.  Centered by a stately turret at the corner, the Terrace is distinctive both from a distance where the overall massing can be appreciated, as well as up close, where the numerous details delight the eye. 

The overall emphasis of the Terrace is horizontal with the recessed entry porches set beneath arches of varying heights in a regular pattern.  The second floor consists of groupings of windows in twos and threes; above that the gables set into the steeply pitched hipped roof clearly indicate each of the seven apartments.  The use of the various materials – sandstone, granite, and brick – help to differentiate the various levels as well.

Examining the houses up close, one is treated to the rich variety of ornament applied.  From the elaborate wrought iron of the porch railings to multi-colored stone used for the rosettes set to either side of the porch arches, no detail was overlooked.  

Especially interesting are a series of human faces set into the column capitals, and fanciful carved creatures appearing at various points across the façade. 

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald occupied one of the row houses as a boy with his parents and maternal grandmother during 1908 and 1909.

Richardsonian Romanesque St. Paul - Part I

St. Paul, Minnesota possesses many wonderful architectural landmarks.  During the last two decades of the 19^th century, a number of prominent architects working in the city embraced the Richardsonian Romanesque style for some of the most distinctive buildings ever constructed in St. Paul.  The heavy and solid Romanesque style, with its illusions to the past, provided a sense of tradition and permanence in the new “western cities” of the United States, such as St. Paul.  In this article, the first of several to explore how H. H. Richardson’s Romanesque style was embraced and interpreted by others in St. Paul, we will explore one college building and several commercial buildings, all of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Old Main, Macalester College

1600 Grand Avenue

Macalester College was founded in 1874 by Rev. Dr. Edward Duffield Neill as a Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian liberal arts college.  It opened in 1885 with just over 50 students.  It was at that time that architect William H. Willcox was commissioned to design the first new structure for the college.  Completed in 1887, the building, now known as “Old Main,” embraced the Richardsonian Romanesque style with its heavy base and porte cochere of rusticated stone and arched windows of various sizes and groupings set into the brick walls above.  Willcox had practiced in Chicago throughout the 1870s and arrived in St. Paul in 1882, designing numerous structures during his decade there.  The college remains one of the top-rated liberal arts colleges in the United States, and alumni include Reader’s Digest founder DeWitt Wallace, vice president Walter Mondale, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Great Northern Building

281 E. Kellogg Street

This substantial seven-story brick structure was built in 1887 to house the corporate offices of the Great Northern Railroad, by its president, James J. Hill.  The architect, James Brodie, was the in-house architect for the company, and later served as construction superintendent for Hill’s massive residence on St. Paul’s exclusive Summit Avenue.  

The most distinctive feature of the building is its massive and heavy rusticated stone entrance arch; the same stone forms the base around the entire building.  In contrast, delicate foliate carvings decorate the arch and engaged side columns (see image at top of article).  Large arched windows at the first floor level are referenced with the smaller and simpler arched windows at the upper three levels.  Recently converted to residential use, the original brick barrel-vaulted ceilings have been left exposed in the units.

Walsh Building

189-191 E. Seventh Street

This modest three-story commercial building constructed of rich red brick with stone trim in 1888, derives its prominence from the generous arched windows at the second level, in groupings of two and three.  The cornice is embellished with a detailed brick parapet wall above, and a slender turret at the corner.  The architect, Edward Bassford, was a native of Maine who arrived in St. Paul in 1866, and by the 1870s was the busiest architect in the city.  He designed numerous houses, schools, as well as commercial buildings such as the Walsh.  His office employed several architects who went on to prominent careers of their own, including Cass Gilbert, who later designed three state capitol buildings (including Minnesota), and the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

Merchants National Bank

366 Jackson Street

This building, another design by Edward Bassford was opened in 1892 to house the Merchants National Bank.  The striking rusticated sandstone exterior features window openings of different sizes and designs at each level, resulting in a richly ornamented surface.  Large two story windows at the lower levels illuminated the banking room, while the paired windows on the third and fourth levels show the location of the offices.  

Polished columns at these floors embellish the windows, which are set beneath a high detailed cornice and parapet, all executed in the same stone.  The building was restored in recent years by David A. Brooks and is now known as the Brooks Building.

Saint Paul Building

6 W. Fifth Street

This eight-story office building of Lake Superior sandstone occupies a prominent corner at Fifth and Wabasha Streets.  Constructed in 1889 and based upon a design by architect J. Walter Stevens, the composition of base, shaft, and capital groups the floors into three distinct sections.  The lower two floors, heavily rusticated, are joined with tall two-story columns along the long side of the building, with huge windows set in between.  

The next four stories, with less rustication, feature windows grouped in pairs which are set beneath larger, highly decorated arches at the top of the sixth story.  The final two stories are composed of tall narrow windows with very thin columns connecting the two levels, all set beneath a projecting bracketed cornice. 

Pioneer-Endicott Building

141 E. Fourth Street

This large complex was built as two separate buildings in the late 1880s.  The corner Pioneer Building, constructed between 1887 and 1889, is a design by Chicago architect Solon S. Beman (designer of the Town of Pullman, the Kimball mansion on Prairie Avenue, and the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue, amongst many others in Chicago).  

In 1890, the L-shaped Endicott Building was designed by Cass Gilbert and James Knox Taylor and wrapped the Pioneer on two sides.  The two buildings were connected by arcades in the 1940s, and the complex has been known as the Pioneer-Endicott ever since.  

The Pioneer Building was significant in its day.  At 13 stories, it was tallest building in St. Paul at the time, and remained the tallest building west of Chicago until 1915.  A 36-foot wide light well provided light and ventilation and featured the first glass elevators in the United States, which could travel 300 feet per minute.  It has recently been converted to more than 200 luxury apartments.

Next week:  The Federal Courts Building, now the Landmark Center