Thursday, February 2, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
History of the Blair Arcade
The Blair Flats, a massive stone landmark occupying the
southwest corner of the Selby and Western Avenue intersection, have been a
fixture of the Cathedral Hill neighborhood for more than a century. Built in
1887 at a cost of $300,000, the building was commissioned by Frank P. Blair,
secretary of the St. Paul Improvement Company, as an apartment building with
storefronts on the first floor. It was designed by local builders Hermann Kretz
and William H. Thomas in the High Victorian or Queen Anne style of many of the
elegant homes that still dot the surrounding Summit Avenue neighborhood.
Six years later, in 1893, the building was converted to a
residential hotel and renamed the Albion Hotel. While it was an elegant address
for many of St. Paul's up-and-coming new residents, the Albion also was an
important link to St. Paul's streetcar era. In 1911 Thomas Lowry, president of
the St. Paul Street Railway Company, bought the Albion and renamed it the Angus
Hotel. For many years Lowry's Selby Street street car line ran along the north
side of the building, heading for downtown St. Paul.
In the 1940’s it housed many returning World War II military
men and women who later moved out to start families in their own homes. The
hotel had an elegant sitting room, a bar and a tobacco/newsstand. Closed for
many years, the Angus’ location became notorious as riots broke out on Selby in
the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Due to its
gradual deterioration in condition and quality it closed in 1971. The
building became a magnet for historic preservationists and urban revivalists,
even serving as a project of the University of Minnesota’s School of
Architecture.
In 1981, when the building was surveyed during the two-year
Historic Sites Survey conducted by the Ramsey County Historical Society and the
St. Paul Historic Preservation Commission, the future of the old hotel/ apartment
house was not promising. Today, the
building is called home to many businesses.
In addition to Estetica Salon and Spa, Nina’s Coffee Shop, and Fabulous
Ferns are a few others who occupy the main floor of the building. The upper level has been remodeled and
remains as an apartment complex, much like its original intension.
In the 1900’s every crook from Baby Face Nelson to John
Dillinger were rumored to frequent the Albion hotel. Alvin Karpis, the infamous bank robber said
that if you were looking for someone you had not seen – think of two places,
St. Paul or Prison. There is even a
rumor of a tunnel connecting Estetica Salon and a bar across the street.
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