Colonial Warehouse

The Colonial Warehouse is marked by a buff brick façade featuring massive two-story Roman arches at its base. Built in stages between eighteen eighty-five and nineteen oh-nine, this structure was originally designed as the headquarters and maintenance facility for the Minneapolis Street Railway Company. Thomas Lowry, the company’s head, initially intended the site to house a cable car system, but the city rejected his plan in favor of electric streetcars. The building consequently became the first electric powerhouse for the city's streetcar network in eighteen ninety.