1910, 2004
The American Trio Lofts building at the northwest corner of Park Avenue and South Third Street, previously known as both the Northern Implement Company building and the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company building, provided warehouse and office space in downtown Minneapolis before it was converted to residential in 2004.
Early in the morning of May 28, 1910, the entire city block where the American Trio loft building is now located was lost in a fire, including the offices of the Great Northern Implement Company. All Minneapolis fire rigs, as well as three from St. Paul were called to fight the blaze. The intensity of the fire was felt two blocks away in the milling district, where crews were stationed to monitor the mill roofs for fear that embers from the fire would spread. Bystanders on Nicollet Island described the fire as looking like a Christmas tree with thousands of lights. Several other fires were ignited throughout the city by embers blowing from the blaze. Most of these
were extinguished by citizen bucket brigades. The fire was reportedly started by vagrants sleeping in railroad cars on a side track to the block’s loading platform.
By the next morning, a headline in The Minneapolis Journal reported that “Owners and Agents Ready to Proceed as Soon as Ruins Become Cool.” A new building was proposed and subsequently financed by A. W. Wright of Alma, Michigan. The Great Northern Implement Company agreed to occupy the entire building, with the first floor devoted to office space and showrooms occupying the second floor. The building was to be reinforced concrete and steel to ward against another fire. The Minneapolis Sunday Tribune wrote on the same day, “…the Great Northern Companies’ building was thought to be almost fireproof but more attention is to be paid in the rebuilding.”
The building was designed by the architectural firm of Kees and Colburn. The partnership between Frederick Kees and Serenus Colburn was formed in 1899. The firm also designed the Chamber of Commerce / Grain Exchange building, just blocks from the Pittsburgh Plate Glass company building. The building was influenced by the work of Louis Sullivan in Chicago. The Chicago School of Architecture, or Commercial Style, included steel-frame construction, with large glass areas and minimal ornamentation.
The first floor of the building is limestone. The six stories above are clad in dark brown brick. Brick pilasters divide the vertical bays of windows. Inset terra-cotta panels provide the building’s only ornamentation and the windows terminate in round arches at the top. The cornice has brick corbeling which gives the building roof a flared appearance. The far edges or corners of the building have windows only on the second floor. The building corners are chamfered or grooved at the edges.
The contractor for the building was H. N. Leighton Company. Horace Newell Leighton was born in Maine and moved to Minneapolis at the age of twenty-three. He formed a contracting company with his brother Eben.
In addition to the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company building, the Leighton Company was responsible for construction of the Foshay Tower and St. Mary’s Basilica.
Use of the building changed over time and typically involved production and office space. In 1912, just two years after construction of the new building, the first four floors were occupied by Ford Motor Company. Car parts were shipped to the building and assembled on wooden benches with hand tools. During the last few months of 1912, workers assembled over seven hundred Model Ts at this location. On average, they assembled twelve cars per day. At the same time, Ford Motor was making plans for new assembly plants in both Minneapolis and St. Paul.
In early 1920, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company purchased the building from A. W. Wright for $300,000. using the space for glass production and shipping. The company was expanding beyond its home base of Pittsburgh and expanding into new markets with glass and paint products. Business was booming and the Minneapolis location provided ample work rooms and shipping capabilities.
By 1970, the Pittsburgh Plate Glass building served as leasable warehouse space. The building received designation on the National Register in 1977. The Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission held a hearing in May 1978 successfully seeking approval for American Trio to have a sign certificate mounted on the building.
Trio Development Group renovated the building to living units in 2004. The building now houses ninety condominium units.