The Soo Line Building is a 19-story residential

highrise A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

in Minneapolis, Minnesota which was the tallest commercial building in the city from the time it was completed in 1915 until the 26-story

Foshay Tower The Foshay Tower, now the W Minneapolis – The Foshay hotel, is a skyscraper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Modeled after the Washington Monument, the building was completed in 1929, months before the stock market crash in October of that year. It ...

was built in 1929.

History

The Soo Line Building was built for the First National Bank of Minneapolis, a predecessor of today's

U.S. Bancorp U.S. Bancorp (stylized as us bancorp) is an American bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and incorporated in Delaware. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, and is the fifth largest banking institution ...

(U.S. Bank). The building was designed by the Beaux-Arts master

Robert W. Gibson Robert W. Gibson, AIA, (1854 in England – 1927 in New York City) was an English-born American ecclesiastical architect active in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century New York state. He designed several large Manhattan churches and ...

. The building later served for many years as headquarters of the

Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (MStP&SSM) was a Class I railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Midwestern United States. Commonly known since its opening in 1884 as the Soo Line after the phonetic sp ...

, which added an iconic clock to the corner of the building's street level. For commercial purposes, it was sometimes referred to by its address, 501 Marquette. The

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

became a major shareholder for the Soo Line in 1890. The MStP&SSM merged with numerous CP subsidiaries in 1961 to form the "new"

Soo Line Railroad The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and S ...

. During the 1960s, a remodeling operation transformed the building into small offices. The marble floors were covered with carpet. In 1985, the Soo purchased trackage from the bankrupt Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road") and usurped it a year later. CP purchased the company outright in 1990; the

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

-based railway's U.S. headquarters then took over the space for its 400 employees.Janet Moore
Soo Line's conversion to apartments is close to reality
, ''Star Tribune'', April 12, 2012, accessed August 6, 2013. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

on May 12, 2008. In 2011, the building was purchased by

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

-based developer Village Green Properties for $11.3 million; after the commercial tenants were relocated, Village Green began conversion of the property in October 2012 into a 254-unit luxury apartment building with a street-level restaurant, scheduled for completion in Fall 2013.Jim Butcha and Janet Moore
Downtown Minneapolis offices find new life as apartments
''Star Tribune'', March 31, 2013, accessed August 6, 2013.Sam Black

''Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal'', July 5, 2013, accessed August 6, 2013.Rick Nelson

''Star Tribune'', August 6, 2013, accessed August 6, 2013. In 2012, the CP moved out of the building. The first residents of the remodeled building moved in by the end of 2013.

Location

The building is located across Marquette Avenue from the 510 Marquette Building, the original

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

. A skyway connects the building to its neighbor across 5th Street South. Residents' amenities include a rooftop, an indoor/outdoor pool, and a hot tub on the 20th floor. In front of that building is the Nicollet Mall station of the

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

light rail lines. Nearby is

Canadian Pacific Plaza Canadian Pacific Plaza is a 383-ft (117 m) tall skyscraper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was completed in 1960 and has 28 floors. It is the 21st-tallest building in the city. It is the first major post-World War II skyscraper built in Minneap ...

, renamed after the Canadian Pacific Railroad moved in after vacating the Soo Line Building.

Gallery

File:Soo Line Building 1.jpg, Front-corner side, skyway visible. File:Soo Line Building clock.jpg, Building's clock. File:Soo Line Building Minneapolis.jpg, Front-corner side.

References

External links

*
Soo Line Building
at the

Hennepin County Library Hennepin County Library is a public library system serving Hennepin County, Minnesota, US. The current iteration of Hennepin County Library was formed by the merger of urban Minneapolis Public Library and suburban Hennepin County Library on Ja ...

.
Soo Line Building
at the Minnesota Historical Society. * * {{Registered Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Minneapolis Office buildings completed in 1915 Residential skyscrapers in Minneapolis Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Soo Line Railroad