The Aaron Carlson building burned down in early September. (Mina Adsit)
The Northeast Minneapolis Arts District is located in the original industrial area of Minneapolis. Trees floated down the Mississippi and were milled with water power harnessed from St. Anthony Falls. A variety of businesses emerged to supply the growing city and its western settlements with lumber and building materials.
One of those manufacturers was the Aaron Carlson Company, located at 1505 Central Ave. NE. Founded in 1891, Aaron Carlson Sash and Door Company manufactured millwork for upper-class homes and public buildings. The factory grew through multiple additions from 1905 to 1987. The building’s chimney, which has the company’s name on its side, was a Northeast Minneapolis landmark for most of those years.
During World War II, the Company’s factory was used in the construction of wood pontoon bridges; these bridges were shipped to Europe and Asia. The Aaron Carlson Company was awarded the “Excellence in Production” award by the Army/Navy in 1945. Aaron Carlson Company ceased operation at the site in 2020.
The building’s new owners worked with consultants to have the complex placed on the National Register of Historic Places; at the time, they planned to develop the buildings into mixed-use spaces. The National Register listing enabled the use of historic tax credit financing for construction.
Ultimately, the development was delayed. Post-pandemic, as the building sat vacant for the most part, graffiti proliferated and unauthorized visitors found their way into the building. A fire on September 7 destroyed two-thirds of the building. Over a week later, the rubble was still smoking.
Historic designation is not enough to prevent the destruction of vacant buildings. The Aaron Carlson building was in use for 120 years for the manufacturing of highly flammable wood products without experiencing this type of destructive fire.
Across Central Avenue the Northrup King Building is undergoing a major renovation to add housing and maker space at their site. The current owner of the Northrup King Building, Artspace, is an experienced developer of affordable art spaces. Before the current ownership, the Northrup King complex had already rented studio space to hundreds of artists. Owned by Shamrock Properties, the building did not experience a long period of vacancy after Northrup King left the site in the late 1980s. Artists began moving in. Artists could utilize much of the old industrial space without immediate large-scale renovation.
Over several years, renovations gradually occurred. Northrup King is now a hub of activity in the Arts District. When the current renovation is complete, more of the building will be available to support resident artists and the arts community. The financing package for the renovation includes historic tax credit financing.
The redevelopment of the Aaron Carlson building, now owned by Hempel Real Estate, was never realized. It is common for building redevelopments to be delayed for layered and complex reasons, including financial constraints, city permitting, other projects a developer is working on or a lack of vision. But losing a building of Aaron Carlson Company’s size, character and location affects the historic industrial context of the entire neighborhood.
There are continued challenges to the historic industrial character of Northeast Minneapolis. Unfortunately, older industrial buildings can and have been demolished to make way for new construction: buildings that are neglected to the point that they are no longer usable.
Or, as in the case of the Aaron Carlson Company, they can burn.
The old industrial buildings of Northeast Minneapolis have provided space for artists for over 30 years. Old buildings can be more affordable to artists than new construction. Artist studios and maker spaces have a proven history of keeping old buildings in-use and vital.
This symbiotic relationship is part of the reason the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District thrives and pumps life into the city of Minneapolis. Preserving historic industrial buildings is part of maintaining the health of the Arts District.
Perhaps artist occupancy could have saved the Aaron Carlson Building. According to Northeast Minneapolis Arts District Chair Josh Blanc, “Councilmember (Elliott) Payne’s office contacted the Arts District board in 2021 to help the developers see how it could be saved and rebuilt for artisan uses. We gave the developers a consulting proposal to envision the property for artist workspaces, and they declined, letting the building fall into further disrepair, and now the fire. It is very unfortunate.”