The Heritage Preservation Commission protects structures and buildings historically or architecturally significant to Saint Paul through local designation for heritage preserva- tion. Before requesting such designation from City Council, the HPC surveys the history and architecture of a particular building or district and then evaluates the significance of the building(s) to the heritage of Saint Paul. The HPC also comments on the nomination of buildings and districts to the National Register of Historic Places.
The University-Raymond Commercial Historic District was first identified in the context study St. Paul Transportation Corridors: 1857 to 1950 which examined the impact of various modes of transportation in helping to form and define the city, and the impact of transportation lines on the built environment of Saint Paul.
The University-Raymond Commercial Historic District is significant as the commercial core of the Saint Paul Midway, which developed in the early twentieth century as the city's largest industrial area and a national transportation center. Nearly all of the properties in the district are related to some aspect of the activities of the railroad lines between the Twin Cities or the early years of the trucking industry.
The twenty-two buildings classified as "contributing" (35 total) within the University- Raymond Commercial Historic District, most of them with high exterior integrity, re- flect the evolution of the area from the railroad era to the development of the interstate highway system.
Among the thirty-five buildings in the University-Raymond Commercial Historic District are excellent examples of early twentieth-century factory, warehouse, office, and store buildings designed by leading Twin Cities architects. At least ten architectural firms are represented. They include Minneapolis architects Bertrand and Chamberlin, Charles Ferron, and Lang, Raugland, and Lewis; and Saint Paul architects Buechner and Orth, Ellerbe and Round, Kenneth Fullerton, Clarence H. Johnston, J. Walter Stevens, and Toltz, King and Day. Their work in the district embodies the development of warehouse, factory and mercantile building design over the fifty-year period between 1891 and 1941.
The HPC held a public hearing on July 8, 2004 and found that the proposed University-Raymond Commercial Historic District is eligible for local designation as a Heritage Preservation Site under criteria (1), (4) and (5) of Section 73.05 (a) of the Saint Paul Legislative Code. The City Council adopted the University-Raymond Commercial Historic District as a heritage preservation site in 2005.
If you would like Historic District Building Information, please contact our office. The file is quite large.
