Firemen's Hall and Masonic Lodge
Firemen's Hall and Masonic Lodge, 147 North BroadwayBuilt in 1909-1910, this building housed the city's fire department on the ground level and the Masonic Temple on the upper floor. The rest of the building served at one time as the "Idle Hour Theatre" and was later used by various youth groups, health organizations, and clubs sponsoring public events.The building was remodeled extensively in 1981 when it became home to the Albert Lea Community Theatre and was renamed The Marion Ross Performing Arts Center after Marion Ross of TV's "Happy Days" fame. Ross was a resident of Albert Lea until 19?? when she left to pursue her acting career. This building was also used as an emergency hospital during a flu epidemic in 1920.This Masonic Lodge is one of the oldest organizations in Freeborn County. In fact, it’s only a year younger than the county itself.
Firemen's Hall and Masonic Lodge
Firemen's Hall and Masonic Lodge, 147 North BroadwayBuilt in 1909-1910, this building housed the city's fire department on the ground level and the Masonic Temple on the upper floor. The rest of the building served at one time as the "Idle Hour Theatre" and was later used by various youth groups, health organizations, and clubs sponsoring public events.The building was remodeled extensively in 1981 when it became home to the Albert Lea Community Theatre and was renamed The Marion Ross Performing Arts Center after Marion Ross of TV's "Happy Days" fame. Ross was a resident of Albert Lea until 19?? when she left to pursue her acting career. This building was also used as an emergency hospital during a flu epidemic in 1920.This Masonic Lodge is one of the oldest organizations in Freeborn County. In fact, it’s only a year younger than the county itself.
The Wiegand Building
The Wiegand Building, 202 South BroadwayThis building was home to Citizen's National Bank and was completed in 1892. This Richardsonian Romanesque inspired design was created by C. A. Dunham, architect. Particularly notable is the balcony with the decorative iron work railings. The imposing corner turret had its cap removed during modernization.Adam Wiegand was the owner and operator of a dry goods store located at the corner of South Broadway Avenue and West William. Street. The three-story brick structure at the southwest corner of Broadway and William was for many years the location of a bank, Guiney’s Place (a bar and restaurant), a drug store, and a discount sales operation,Wiegand purchased Albert Lea Bottling Works in 1904.
Bessesen Opera House
Bessesen Opera House, 224 South BroadwayThe Bessesen Opera House was designed by St. Paul architects Cederberg and Van Kirk. Constructed in 1916, this building was designed as a 740-seat opera palace to showcase the talents of internationally acclaimed opera prima donna Beatrice Gjertsen Bessesen, by her husband by Dr. William Bessesen. There was a studio for voice lessons on the upper level.After its debut as an opera palace, it became The Rivoli motion picture theater from 1922 to 1975 and the Rivoli Mini-Mall in 1977. Prior to housing the Rivoli, the building was home to B.B. Theater and Conservatory of Music.Its French Renaissance style with the three-tiered columned facade gives it a uniqueness which fortunately was not disturbed during the remodeling. The interiors of the second and third floor apartments possess both Arts and Crafts style and Art Nouveau elements including terra cotta fireplaces, art glass skylight, and stained glass windows.
Syndicate Block
Syndicate Block, 244 South BroadwayBuilt in 1888, the brick elements which corbelled away from the side wall of this once elegant Romanesque style Syndicate Block were removed because of deterioration. The front facade once covered by cedar shakes in 1971, is intact except for the parapets and turret roofs removed in 1955.Charles Upin owned and operated St. Paul Clothiers, originally St. Paul Clothing House, a chain of men's clothing stores founded 1921. Alan Upin took over the stores from his father and later worked with his oldest son, Jeff who ran the stores with him for 12 years.
Carnegie Library
Carnegie Library, 146 West College StreetBuilt in 1903 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, this red-brick building was designed in a distinctive Beaux-Arts style by Schick and Ross, architects from La Crosse, Wisconsin. The basement story has rusticated limestone and brick bands, and is separated from the raised first floor by a sandstone stringcourse. The first story has eight tall window openings on the west facade and five tall window openings on the south facade, all filled with modern plate-glass windows. Brick pilasters with sandstone bases and capitals and brick bands ornament the first story. The entrance in the building's angled southwest corner has been remodeled with a modern plate-glass transom and double doors. The brick wing walls and concrete stairs of the entrance stoop are replacements. The original stone door hood is supported on brackets abovea roundel flanked by foliation. A stone cornice wraps around the west, southwest, and south facades and forms an arch over the entrance.Citizens of Minneapolis, Duluth, and Saint Paul were the first to set up libraries as Minnesota became established in the last half of the nineteenth century. By 1879, twenty-seven subscription libraries had been founded throughout the state, including one in Albert Lea in 1873. By 1875, the Albert Lea facility claimed 175 volumes. Possibly located in makeshiftquarters on the second floor of 102 East Clark Street, the library soon closed for lack of support. A more successful attempt was made in 1897 when a group of women opened a library in a vacant house at North Broadway and Water Street. Beginning with fifty books and thirteen dollars in cash, the women kept the library open weekday evenings and Saturday afternoons. By 1899, their continued pressure convinced the city to levy a tax to support a free public library, a financing option enabled by state legislation passed hi 1879. The library soon moved to bigger quarters in the Enterprise Building at West Clark Street and Washington Avenue. The formation of the Albert Lea Library Association in 1897 led to the establishment of a public library. In an effort to raise funds for a library building, Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, was contacted. A grant was secured from Mr. Carnegie, and the building was constructed in 1903. The building gable is notable baroque detail.Andrew Carnegie was one of the 19th century’s great American capitalists. He built several fortunes but is inseparably identified with the steel industry. A growing interest in philanthropy, guided by his poor boy’s roots in Scotland and informed by a lifelong love of reading and learning, manifested in funding more than 2,500 public libraries. According to Kevin Clemens, author of “Carnegie Libraries of Minnesota,” of the original 66 Carnegie libraries in Minnesota, 48 buildings still stand; 22 are working libraries. (Albert Lea Tribune, December 23, 2011)
Tribune Building
Tribune Building, 408 South BroadwayConstructed before 1886, this building was originally smaller and had an Italianate-style facade. After the newspaper office moved into the building in 1904, a two-story addition was made to the south end to house the printing presses and the building was clad in dark-brown brick. The north facade and second story of the east facade were modified to the present configurations in 1910. Four additional storefronts were added to the east facade in 1961 and the north-facade storefront was remodeled.This building was known as the Morin Block, owned by the son of one of the city's founders.The Morins were involved in real estate, and at one point owned the largest amount of land in the city. In 1904 W. A. Morin and C. S. Edwards purchased \heAlbert Lea Enterprise, one of the local newspapers, and moved production into the Morin Block. In 1910 the Times-Enterprise was merged with the Albert Lea Tribune, operated by the Simonsen, Whitcomb and Hurley Company. All of the newspaper operations were centered in the Morin Block, which was expanded to the south and re-faced to become the Tribune Building. The two newspapers were printed and distributed from the building until the 1950s when the business moved to larger quarters. The second floor of the building was rented as the Tribune Apartments.This building was home to the Albert Lea Evening Tribune for more than 50 years until 1961.
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot, 606 South BroadwayThe Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul, and Pacific, a typical example of a small train station, was one of four which served Albert Lea in the era of train travel. Originally built by the Southern Minnesota Railroad circa 1868. The depot was built in 1914 and housed waiting, office and freight areas. The central section has a steeply pitched flared hipped roof and two slightly shorter sections at either end. About 1930, a rectangular flat-roofed section was added to house the express office.
Freeborn County Courthouse
Freeborn County Courthouse, 411 South BroadwayBuilt in 1887, the Court House is "a highly original essay in Richardsonian Romanesque, especially in the great tower and the sculpture of four "dogs of the Nile" ready to leap from the building". The "dogs" refer to the dog faces sculpted into the building's exterior face outward in all four directions. (A Guide to the Architecture of Minnesota, Gebhard and Martinson)On the front of the historical portion of the 1887 Freeborn County Courthouse facing South Broadway Avenue are two stone faces. Just who this man and woman are supposed to be is still a local mystery.
Skinner Chamberlain
Skinner Chamberlain 227 South BroadwayBuilt in 1924-25, this building has served a variety of purposes, predominately of the department store type. This four story building contains red wire faced brick and terra cotta tile trim of white and green squares. It displays Craftsman display and Classical Revival influences.In the 1890s a retail store named Gage, Hayden and Co. opened in a new building in the 200 block of South Broadway Avenue. What was also called the Big Four Store was located in a three-story building which had the retail portion on the first floor, offices and the Gage Opera House on the upper two floors, and a barber shop in the basement.About a half block to the north, Bert Skinner had purchased the Albert Lea Mercantile Co. in 1897 and changed the name to Skinner Mercantile Co. Across the street was a small grocery store owned and operated by Bert’s brother, Frank Skinner. And not far away their brother-in-law, William G. Chamberlain, had a men’s clothing store. In April 1902, the three men purchased the Big Four Store and formed Skinner, Chamberlain and Co.It wasn’t long before this particular business became a real department store with an expansion into the former office area and opera house portion. By 1912, the firm had the following layout: first floor – dry goods, clothing, shoes, groceries; first balcony – art goods, sheet music, rest rooms; second floor – millinery, ladies’ ready-to-wear garments, carpets, curtains; third floor and balcony – crockery, glasswear, kitchenware, toys. To provide better customer access to the store’s upper floors, Skinner Chamberlain installed the area’s first elevator. In 1924 the big building was remodeled from the basement to the roof. A fourth floor was added and the front of the building was given its present appearance.
Henry J. Harm Jewelry
Henry J. Harm Jewelry, 211 South BroadwayHenry J. Harm, a former mayor of Albert Lea, commissioned the architects of Larson and McLaren of Minneapolis to design a building to replace his jewelry store that burned down in 1922. Built by Tapager Construction of Albert Lea, the new building housed the store on the first floor with apartments on three floors above.The building’s front façade features highly ornamental details with Art Nouveau-style, nature-inspired design motifs around the storefront, at the window openings and spandrel panels between each level of windows, and at the prominent bracketed roof cornice.Like its neighbor to the north, this structure was designed by Minneapolis architects Larson & McLaren. This four story building was richly ornamented with light blue/grey terra cotta and built in 1922. Henry J. Harm served as Mayor of Albert Lea from 1913 to 1914.
Albert Lea State Bank Building
Albert Lea State Bank Building, 201 S. BroadwayBuilt in 1923 by the Tapager Construction Company of Albert Lea. Similar to its neighbor, this building is elegantly decorated with cream colored terra cotta and has a marble façade. Built at a cost of approximately $200,000 as the Albert Lea State Bank, the building housed the Freeborn National Bank from 1929 until 1975.
First National Bank Building
First National Bank Building, 139 S. BroadwayBrick masonry was used instead of the usual stone for detail on this structure built in 1902-1903. The classical style of this commercial building is enhanced by the decorative archways and recessed windows. The original design has been changed with the moving of the building entrance from William Street to South Broadway.
Home Investment Building
Home Improvement Building, 141 East WilliamAt various periods throughout its history, this had been called the Home Improvemtn Building, the Hyde Building and the Lea Center. Constructed between 1915 and 1916, this six-story building is the tallest in downtown Albert Lea. Sections of the dark-red brick facades on the east and south were painted green in the 1960s.On the south and east facades the doorways are on the first story; three doorways in the south facade and one doorway in the east facade. White terra-cotta plaques ornament the red-brick sections between the window bays on the east and south facades. White terra-cotta tile stringcourses are situated above the storefronts and below the cornice on the same facades. The stamped-metal cornice with a dentil and egg-and-dart motif is intact, and the original openings for light fixtures remain on the underside of the cornice. The second through sixth stories on the south facade each have four window bays.On March 31, 1915, a newspaper headline proclaimed: "Greatest Building Improvement in City's History. $150,000.00 Erickson, Harm, Subby Office Building to have 6 Floors of Modern Fireproof Construction. Demands for Space are Flooding Owners. Will Bring Many People Here." The three instigators behind the building's construction were "all home grown, and self made." Alex C. Erickson was president of the Albert Lea State Bank. Henry J. Harm had a jewelry store on Broadway and was serving as the city's mayor. Oscar Subby, a Danish immigrant, joined the Albert Lea police force in 1899 and held the office of Freeborn County sheriff from 1904 to 1914. During the 1910s, he was also president of the Albert Lea Grader Manufacturing Company, which made horse-drawn graders and other equipment; Erickson was secretary and treasurer of the firm. "For several years [the three men] have been connected with almost every big local enterprise," the article observed. "And what is much better, they have been successful. Their success means a bigger and better Albert Lea." They had registered a corporation, the Albert Lea Home Investment Company, with Minnesota'ssecretary of state on May 3, 1912. They later teamed up to develop a large subdivision on the north side of town.Oscar Subby and the Broadway gun battle
Albert Lea Post Office
Albert Lea Post Office, 141 South NewtonConstructed in 1936-1937 under the jurisdiction of the Works Progress Administration, this reinforced-concrete building is an excellent example of the Moderne architecture used by the federal government during the Great Depression. The two-story section of the building houses a public lobby, service counters, post office boxes, and offices. A one-story wing on the east (rear) facade contains workspace and a loading dock. The building is clad in varying shades of cream limestone. The west and south facades of the two-story section display several classical characteristics including a raised first story, rusticated basement level, and federal inspired ornamentation. Limestone plaques depicting transportation motifs are situated between the first- and second-story windows. The window bays are separated by fluted limestone pilasters. On the south facade a stylized limestone screen protects the second-story stairwell window, which is stained glass. The six first-story window openings on the west facade and the two first-story window openings on the north facade hold original paired four-over-eight double-hung-sash windows. The seven second-story window openings on the west facade and the two second-story window openings on the south facade still hold original paired four-over four double-hung-sash windows. An additional four-light window acts as a transom over the first-story entrance, which also has a plaque featuring a federal eagle. The curvilinear granite entrance stoop with wrought-iron and cast-bronze hand railings and lamp posts is also original.Albert Lea's post office has occupied this site since 1910. Before that tune, a multi-story brick building, constructed in 1884, was on the site. That building housed a wagon shop, a blacksmith shop, and a mill for grinding feed. By 1899 the Northern Creamery Supply Company moved into the building. After the company built a new brick building at 115-117 South Newton Avenue, the old building was torn down. The first post office building on the site was a one-story brick building on a raised basement. The building was Romanesque in style, and fairly small in size. It was replaced in the mid-1930s by a new building that was erected, like over four hundred other post offices around the country, as a federal reliefproject. The designing architect was LeRoy Gaarder, who was born in Wisconsin hi 1891 and attended Saint Olaf College and the University of Minnesota. After serving with an engineering division in France in World War I, he opened architecture offices in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, in 1918, and in Albert Lea in 1920. In 1933, he moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the federal government. During World War II, he continued his government career in Seattle. Gaarder returned to Albert Lea in 1945, where he was responsible for designing a number of churches and other buildings until his retirement in 1969. Louis A. Simon, the supervising architect for the Albert Lea post office, oversaw construction of a number of post offices in Minnesota, as well as the post office and courthouse in Los Angeles and the Appraisers Building in San Francisco.The C. M. Tapager Company, a prominent Albert Lea contractor, received a $147,674 contract to erect Albert Lea's post office in October 1935. In April 1937, the new facility was dedicated. It has continued to serve the same function since that tune.
Commercial Building
Commercial Building, 222 East ClarkBuilt between 1910 and 1918, this dark-red-brick two-story building has a rectangular plan. The storefront contains a centered display window flanked by two doorways. This building was originally constructed for the Albert Lea Construction Company as a warehouse, although the second floor was rented out as apartments. For a short time in the 1920s, the front of the building housed the Saint Theodore Catholic Church's Sunday school. The rear was used for an automobile dealership and a bill-poster printing business. By 1930 a hotel had been established in part of the building. This business eventually took over the northern half of the building and included a restaurant in the Clark Street storefront. The Goodwin Hotel was in business from the 1930s through the 1950s, when the ownership and the name changed. The Dorman Hotel stayed in business until the early 1990s. The building's rear continued to house a printing business until the 1960s. Additional occupants included a justice of the peace and a funeral service.
Southern Minnesota Gas and Electric Company Building
Southern Minnesota Gas and Electric Company Building, 100 North BroadwayThe Southern Minnesota Gas and Electric Company Building built in 1923 was sold a year later to the Interstate Power Company. Detailed with a strong Italian influence, this is a clear expression of a typical commercial office building for prairie towns. Originally, eight foot high poles paraded above the cornice line highlighting the horizontal styling of the Kasota stone structure.
Morlea Dairy Building
Morlea Daily Building, 132 North BroadwayThis structure was built in 1919 for the Morlea Dairy. There are several ice cream cones etched onto the upper portion of the buildingAlbert Lea Milk Company was started by brothers Henry and Robert Rasmussen. Frank Peter (Pete) Mortenson bought the interest of brother-in-law Herny. Over the next few years, they built the business, incorporated in 1914 and took the name Morlea Dairy, a combination of Mortenson and Albert Lea. The Morlea Daily Building was constructed in 1919 and retains a bit of the legacy of this building through the ice cream cones incorporated into the decorative lintel band above the second stmy windows. This building also hosted a sporting goods store and was once an office supply store.
City Hall
City Hall, 202 North BroadwayBuilt in 1903 to house the police station and fire house, this masomy two-story structure with arches is of Romanesque design. The original building was topped with a half circle of brick above the present roof line and by a tower on the far right edge of the front elevation as seen in picture on the right. The present City Hall on East Clark Street was built in 1967.
Wedge-Spicer Drug Store
Wedge-Spicer Drug Store, 104 South BroadwayOne of the oldest masonry structures in Albert Lea, built 1874, the building has housed several drug and variety stores. There was once a barber shop in the basement, customers entered by an outside stairway on the north side of the building. The round arched second-story windows have brick Italianate hood molds.Lester Wedge Spicer, of the firm of Barlow & Spicer, druggists and stationers, was born in Albert Lea, October 20, 1876. Spicer graduated from the College of Pharamacy, University of Minnesota in 1897. As a member of the City Council he was cited as being among the civic leaders who were responsible for the paving of rutted streets, replacing boardwalks with concrete sidewalks, and for helping to create the meatpacking firm that evolved into the Albert Lea plant of Wilson & Co. And as an enthusiastic historian, he was one of the founders of the Freeborn County Historical Society 60 years ago. Spicer also wrote a series of historical articles for the Tribune. He also served as county coroner.
The Wiegand Building
The Wiegand Building, 202 South BroadwayThis building was home to Citizen's National Bank and was completed in 1892. This Richardsonian Romanesque inspired design was created by C. A. Dunham, architect. Particularly notable is the balcony with the decorative iron work railings. The imposing corner turret had its cap removed during modernization.Adam Wiegand was the owner and operator of a dry goods store located at the corner of South Broadway Avenue and West William. Street. The three-story brick structure at the southwest corner of Broadway and William was for many years the location of a bank, Guiney’s Place (a bar and restaurant), a drug store, and a discount sales operation,Wiegand purchased Albert Lea Bottling Works in 1904.
Bessesen Opera House
Bessesen Opera House, 224 South BroadwayThe Bessesen Opera House was designed by St. Paul architects Cederberg and Van Kirk. Constructed in 1916, this building was designed as a 740-seat opera palace to showcase the talents of internationally acclaimed opera prima donna Beatrice Gjertsen Bessesen, by her husband by Dr. William Bessesen. There was a studio for voice lessons on the upper level.After its debut as an opera palace, it became The Rivoli motion picture theater from 1922 to 1975 and the Rivoli Mini-Mall in 1977. Prior to housing the Rivoli, the building was home to B.B. Theater and Conservatory of Music.Its French Renaissance style with the three-tiered columned facade gives it a uniqueness which fortunately was not disturbed during the remodeling. The interiors of the second and third floor apartments possess both Arts and Crafts style and Art Nouveau elements including terra cotta fireplaces, art glass skylight, and stained glass windows.
Syndicate Block
Syndicate Block, 244 South BroadwayBuilt in 1888, the brick elements which corbelled away from the side wall of this once elegant Romanesque style Syndicate Block were removed because of deterioration. The front facade once covered by cedar shakes in 1971, is intact except for the parapets and turret roofs removed in 1955.Charles Upin owned and operated St. Paul Clothiers, originally St. Paul Clothing House, a chain of men's clothing stores founded 1921. Alan Upin took over the stores from his father and later worked with his oldest son, Jeff who ran the stores with him for 12 years.
Carnegie Library
Carnegie Library, 146 West College StreetBuilt in 1903 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, this red-brick building was designed in a distinctive Beaux-Arts style by Schick and Ross, architects from La Crosse, Wisconsin. The basement story has rusticated limestone and brick bands, and is separated from the raised first floor by a sandstone stringcourse. The first story has eight tall window openings on the west facade and five tall window openings on the south facade, all filled with modern plate-glass windows. Brick pilasters with sandstone bases and capitals and brick bands ornament the first story. The entrance in the building's angled southwest corner has been remodeled with a modern plate-glass transom and double doors. The brick wing walls and concrete stairs of the entrance stoop are replacements. The original stone door hood is supported on brackets abovea roundel flanked by foliation. A stone cornice wraps around the west, southwest, and south facades and forms an arch over the entrance.Citizens of Minneapolis, Duluth, and Saint Paul were the first to set up libraries as Minnesota became established in the last half of the nineteenth century. By 1879, twenty-seven subscription libraries had been founded throughout the state, including one in Albert Lea in 1873. By 1875, the Albert Lea facility claimed 175 volumes. Possibly located in makeshiftquarters on the second floor of 102 East Clark Street, the library soon closed for lack of support. A more successful attempt was made in 1897 when a group of women opened a library in a vacant house at North Broadway and Water Street. Beginning with fifty books and thirteen dollars in cash, the women kept the library open weekday evenings and Saturday afternoons. By 1899, their continued pressure convinced the city to levy a tax to support a free public library, a financing option enabled by state legislation passed hi 1879. The library soon moved to bigger quarters in the Enterprise Building at West Clark Street and Washington Avenue. The formation of the Albert Lea Library Association in 1897 led to the establishment of a public library. In an effort to raise funds for a library building, Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, was contacted. A grant was secured from Mr. Carnegie, and the building was constructed in 1903. The building gable is notable baroque detail.Andrew Carnegie was one of the 19th century’s great American capitalists. He built several fortunes but is inseparably identified with the steel industry. A growing interest in philanthropy, guided by his poor boy’s roots in Scotland and informed by a lifelong love of reading and learning, manifested in funding more than 2,500 public libraries. According to Kevin Clemens, author of “Carnegie Libraries of Minnesota,” of the original 66 Carnegie libraries in Minnesota, 48 buildings still stand; 22 are working libraries. (Albert Lea Tribune, December 23, 2011)
Tribune Building
Tribune Building, 408 South BroadwayConstructed before 1886, this building was originally smaller and had an Italianate-style facade. After the newspaper office moved into the building in 1904, a two-story addition was made to the south end to house the printing presses and the building was clad in dark-brown brick. The north facade and second story of the east facade were modified to the present configurations in 1910. Four additional storefronts were added to the east facade in 1961 and the north-facade storefront was remodeled.This building was known as the Morin Block, owned by the son of one of the city's founders.The Morins were involved in real estate, and at one point owned the largest amount of land in the city. In 1904 W. A. Morin and C. S. Edwards purchased \heAlbert Lea Enterprise, one of the local newspapers, and moved production into the Morin Block. In 1910 the Times-Enterprise was merged with the Albert Lea Tribune, operated by the Simonsen, Whitcomb and Hurley Company. All of the newspaper operations were centered in the Morin Block, which was expanded to the south and re-faced to become the Tribune Building. The two newspapers were printed and distributed from the building until the 1950s when the business moved to larger quarters. The second floor of the building was rented as the Tribune Apartments.This building was home to the Albert Lea Evening Tribune for more than 50 years until 1961.
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Depot, 606 South BroadwayThe Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul, and Pacific, a typical example of a small train station, was one of four which served Albert Lea in the era of train travel. Originally built by the Southern Minnesota Railroad circa 1868. The depot was built in 1914 and housed waiting, office and freight areas. The central section has a steeply pitched flared hipped roof and two slightly shorter sections at either end. About 1930, a rectangular flat-roofed section was added to house the express office.
Freeborn County Courthouse
Freeborn County Courthouse, 411 South BroadwayBuilt in 1887, the Court House is "a highly original essay in Richardsonian Romanesque, especially in the great tower and the sculpture of four "dogs of the Nile" ready to leap from the building". The "dogs" refer to the dog faces sculpted into the building's exterior face outward in all four directions. (A Guide to the Architecture of Minnesota, Gebhard and Martinson)On the front of the historical portion of the 1887 Freeborn County Courthouse facing South Broadway Avenue are two stone faces. Just who this man and woman are supposed to be is still a local mystery.
Skinner Chamberlain
Skinner Chamberlain 227 South BroadwayBuilt in 1924-25, this building has served a variety of purposes, predominately of the department store type. This four story building contains red wire faced brick and terra cotta tile trim of white and green squares. It displays Craftsman display and Classical Revival influences.In the 1890s a retail store named Gage, Hayden and Co. opened in a new building in the 200 block of South Broadway Avenue. What was also called the Big Four Store was located in a three-story building which had the retail portion on the first floor, offices and the Gage Opera House on the upper two floors, and a barber shop in the basement.About a half block to the north, Bert Skinner had purchased the Albert Lea Mercantile Co. in 1897 and changed the name to Skinner Mercantile Co. Across the street was a small grocery store owned and operated by Bert’s brother, Frank Skinner. And not far away their brother-in-law, William G. Chamberlain, had a men’s clothing store. In April 1902, the three men purchased the Big Four Store and formed Skinner, Chamberlain and Co.It wasn’t long before this particular business became a real department store with an expansion into the former office area and opera house portion. By 1912, the firm had the following layout: first floor – dry goods, clothing, shoes, groceries; first balcony – art goods, sheet music, rest rooms; second floor – millinery, ladies’ ready-to-wear garments, carpets, curtains; third floor and balcony – crockery, glasswear, kitchenware, toys. To provide better customer access to the store’s upper floors, Skinner Chamberlain installed the area’s first elevator. In 1924 the big building was remodeled from the basement to the roof. A fourth floor was added and the front of the building was given its present appearance.
Henry J. Harm Jewelry
Henry J. Harm Jewelry, 211 South BroadwayHenry J. Harm, a former mayor of Albert Lea, commissioned the architects of Larson and McLaren of Minneapolis to design a building to replace his jewelry store that burned down in 1922. Built by Tapager Construction of Albert Lea, the new building housed the store on the first floor with apartments on three floors above.The building’s front façade features highly ornamental details with Art Nouveau-style, nature-inspired design motifs around the storefront, at the window openings and spandrel panels between each level of windows, and at the prominent bracketed roof cornice.Like its neighbor to the north, this structure was designed by Minneapolis architects Larson & McLaren. This four story building was richly ornamented with light blue/grey terra cotta and built in 1922. Henry J. Harm served as Mayor of Albert Lea from 1913 to 1914.
Albert Lea State Bank Building
Albert Lea State Bank Building, 201 S. BroadwayBuilt in 1923 by the Tapager Construction Company of Albert Lea. Similar to its neighbor, this building is elegantly decorated with cream colored terra cotta and has a marble façade. Built at a cost of approximately $200,000 as the Albert Lea State Bank, the building housed the Freeborn National Bank from 1929 until 1975.
First National Bank Building
First National Bank Building, 139 S. BroadwayBrick masonry was used instead of the usual stone for detail on this structure built in 1902-1903. The classical style of this commercial building is enhanced by the decorative archways and recessed windows. The original design has been changed with the moving of the building entrance from William Street to South Broadway.
Home Investment Building
Home Improvement Building, 141 East WilliamAt various periods throughout its history, this had been called the Home Improvemtn Building, the Hyde Building and the Lea Center. Constructed between 1915 and 1916, this six-story building is the tallest in downtown Albert Lea. Sections of the dark-red brick facades on the east and south were painted green in the 1960s.On the south and east facades the doorways are on the first story; three doorways in the south facade and one doorway in the east facade. White terra-cotta plaques ornament the red-brick sections between the window bays on the east and south facades. White terra-cotta tile stringcourses are situated above the storefronts and below the cornice on the same facades. The stamped-metal cornice with a dentil and egg-and-dart motif is intact, and the original openings for light fixtures remain on the underside of the cornice. The second through sixth stories on the south facade each have four window bays.On March 31, 1915, a newspaper headline proclaimed: "Greatest Building Improvement in City's History. $150,000.00 Erickson, Harm, Subby Office Building to have 6 Floors of Modern Fireproof Construction. Demands for Space are Flooding Owners. Will Bring Many People Here." The three instigators behind the building's construction were "all home grown, and self made." Alex C. Erickson was president of the Albert Lea State Bank. Henry J. Harm had a jewelry store on Broadway and was serving as the city's mayor. Oscar Subby, a Danish immigrant, joined the Albert Lea police force in 1899 and held the office of Freeborn County sheriff from 1904 to 1914. During the 1910s, he was also president of the Albert Lea Grader Manufacturing Company, which made horse-drawn graders and other equipment; Erickson was secretary and treasurer of the firm. "For several years [the three men] have been connected with almost every big local enterprise," the article observed. "And what is much better, they have been successful. Their success means a bigger and better Albert Lea." They had registered a corporation, the Albert Lea Home Investment Company, with Minnesota'ssecretary of state on May 3, 1912. They later teamed up to develop a large subdivision on the north side of town.Oscar Subby and the Broadway gun battle
Albert Lea Post Office
Albert Lea Post Office, 141 South NewtonConstructed in 1936-1937 under the jurisdiction of the Works Progress Administration, this reinforced-concrete building is an excellent example of the Moderne architecture used by the federal government during the Great Depression. The two-story section of the building houses a public lobby, service counters, post office boxes, and offices. A one-story wing on the east (rear) facade contains workspace and a loading dock. The building is clad in varying shades of cream limestone. The west and south facades of the two-story section display several classical characteristics including a raised first story, rusticated basement level, and federal inspired ornamentation. Limestone plaques depicting transportation motifs are situated between the first- and second-story windows. The window bays are separated by fluted limestone pilasters. On the south facade a stylized limestone screen protects the second-story stairwell window, which is stained glass. The six first-story window openings on the west facade and the two first-story window openings on the north facade hold original paired four-over-eight double-hung-sash windows. The seven second-story window openings on the west facade and the two second-story window openings on the south facade still hold original paired four-over four double-hung-sash windows. An additional four-light window acts as a transom over the first-story entrance, which also has a plaque featuring a federal eagle. The curvilinear granite entrance stoop with wrought-iron and cast-bronze hand railings and lamp posts is also original.Albert Lea's post office has occupied this site since 1910. Before that tune, a multi-story brick building, constructed in 1884, was on the site. That building housed a wagon shop, a blacksmith shop, and a mill for grinding feed. By 1899 the Northern Creamery Supply Company moved into the building. After the company built a new brick building at 115-117 South Newton Avenue, the old building was torn down. The first post office building on the site was a one-story brick building on a raised basement. The building was Romanesque in style, and fairly small in size. It was replaced in the mid-1930s by a new building that was erected, like over four hundred other post offices around the country, as a federal reliefproject. The designing architect was LeRoy Gaarder, who was born in Wisconsin hi 1891 and attended Saint Olaf College and the University of Minnesota. After serving with an engineering division in France in World War I, he opened architecture offices in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, in 1918, and in Albert Lea in 1920. In 1933, he moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the federal government. During World War II, he continued his government career in Seattle. Gaarder returned to Albert Lea in 1945, where he was responsible for designing a number of churches and other buildings until his retirement in 1969. Louis A. Simon, the supervising architect for the Albert Lea post office, oversaw construction of a number of post offices in Minnesota, as well as the post office and courthouse in Los Angeles and the Appraisers Building in San Francisco.The C. M. Tapager Company, a prominent Albert Lea contractor, received a $147,674 contract to erect Albert Lea's post office in October 1935. In April 1937, the new facility was dedicated. It has continued to serve the same function since that tune.
Commercial Building
Commercial Building, 222 East ClarkBuilt between 1910 and 1918, this dark-red-brick two-story building has a rectangular plan. The storefront contains a centered display window flanked by two doorways. This building was originally constructed for the Albert Lea Construction Company as a warehouse, although the second floor was rented out as apartments. For a short time in the 1920s, the front of the building housed the Saint Theodore Catholic Church's Sunday school. The rear was used for an automobile dealership and a bill-poster printing business. By 1930 a hotel had been established in part of the building. This business eventually took over the northern half of the building and included a restaurant in the Clark Street storefront. The Goodwin Hotel was in business from the 1930s through the 1950s, when the ownership and the name changed. The Dorman Hotel stayed in business until the early 1990s. The building's rear continued to house a printing business until the 1960s. Additional occupants included a justice of the peace and a funeral service.
Southern Minnesota Gas and Electric Company Building
Southern Minnesota Gas and Electric Company Building, 100 North BroadwayThe Southern Minnesota Gas and Electric Company Building built in 1923 was sold a year later to the Interstate Power Company. Detailed with a strong Italian influence, this is a clear expression of a typical commercial office building for prairie towns. Originally, eight foot high poles paraded above the cornice line highlighting the horizontal styling of the Kasota stone structure.
Morlea Dairy Building
Morlea Daily Building, 132 North BroadwayThis structure was built in 1919 for the Morlea Dairy. There are several ice cream cones etched onto the upper portion of the buildingAlbert Lea Milk Company was started by brothers Henry and Robert Rasmussen. Frank Peter (Pete) Mortenson bought the interest of brother-in-law Herny. Over the next few years, they built the business, incorporated in 1914 and took the name Morlea Dairy, a combination of Mortenson and Albert Lea. The Morlea Daily Building was constructed in 1919 and retains a bit of the legacy of this building through the ice cream cones incorporated into the decorative lintel band above the second stmy windows. This building also hosted a sporting goods store and was once an office supply store.
City Hall
City Hall, 202 North BroadwayBuilt in 1903 to house the police station and fire house, this masomy two-story structure with arches is of Romanesque design. The original building was topped with a half circle of brick above the present roof line and by a tower on the far right edge of the front elevation as seen in picture on the right. The present City Hall on East Clark Street was built in 1967.
