About
View the design guidelines and map of this historic district
1949, Minnesota Streetcar Museum |
2015, CPED Staff |
Boundaries: Seven parcels located along Golden Valley Road between Sheridan Avenue North and Vincent Avenue North.
Neighborhood: Willard-Hay
Construction Date: 1927-1929
Contractor: Sam L. Katz, Louis Fleisher Construction Company
Architect: Perry E. Crosier
Architectural Style: Spanish Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival
Historic Use: Apartments, retail stores
Current Use: Apartments, management office
Date of Local Designation: 2015
Date of National Designation: N/A
Area of Significance: Streetcar development, architectural styles, master architects
Period of Significance: 1927-1930
Historic Profile: The Golden Valley Road Apartments Historic District consists of seven ornate apartment buildings located along Golden Valley Road between Sheridan Avenue North and Vincent Avenue North, around the former terminus of the Broadway Avenue streetcar line. All seven buildings were designed by master architect Perry Crosier between 1927 and 1929 and exhibit elements of the Spanish Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival styles. The district is discontiguous, with the seven parcels spread out over three short blocks, and includes no non-contributing properties.
In 1923, the Broadway Avenue streetcar line was extended from Morgan Avenue North and West Broadway Avenue to 19th Avenue North (today known as Golden Valley Road) and Upton Avenue North. The line was the primary crosstown line through North Minneapolis and offered residents direct service to Northeast Minneapolis, as well as transfers to six other streetcar lines, providing easy commutes to Downtown and the industrial districts of North and Northeast Minneapolis. Due to the ease with which other parts of the city, primarily major employment centers, could be accessed by streetcar, the 19th Avenue North corridor became the focus of development in the neighborhood, attracting the densest housing in the area, as well as neighborhood shops and services.
Prior to the streetcar’s extension into the district, the area was sparsely populated. Originally settled by farmers, the area was platted and saw scattered development between 1900 and 1920. By the second half of the 1920s, when most development in the area occurred, car ownership had become relatively common among middle-class families. Streetcar ridership peaked in 1920 and the number of registered automobiles more than doubled between 1920 and 1928. However, many families still relied on the streetcar as their primary form of transportation. These families, like those with cars, desired to escape the core of the city for the parks and open spaces found in newly-developing areas, but needed to locate as close as possible to streetcar routes. Due to demand from these families, streetcar routes through areas of new development were often lined with higher-density residential development and commercial nodes.
Between 1926 and 1930, Perry Crosier designed ten buildings along Golden Valley Road near the Broadway Avenue line’s terminus. Nine of the ten buildings were 2.5 story apartment buildings, seven of which included small storefronts in walkout basements. The last building was a two-story building with storefronts on the first floor and apartments above. Seven of the original 2.5 story apartment buildings are extant. The surviving buildings, built between 1927 and 1929 by Sam Katz and the Louis Fleisher Construction Company, make up the district. These buildings were designed in Period Revival styles, which were particularly popular between the end of World War I and the start of World War II. Period Revival decorative elements were often applied to apartment buildings of traditional massing, such as those in the district. Six of the buildings are decorated in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, while the remaining building features Tudor Revival elements.
Photo Credits:
1949, Minnesota Streetcar Museum
2015, CPED Staff
Works Cited:
“Designation Study: Golden Valley Road Apartments Historic District” 2015
Updated: August 2015