The luxurious nonsense of this St. Paul treasure: The Blair Arcade. Once a hotel, then a brothel, shuttered in the 70’s then remodeled for businesses and apartments in the 80’s, Blair Arcade is at once breathtaking and perplexing.
Whether or not it was actually a brothel is a point of debate. Per the St. Paul historical society website (c/o a heavy copy edit):
The Italianate Blair Flats went up in 1887 at a cost of $300,000, about $5 million in today’s money. It became a residential hotel, The Albion, in 1893. When streetcar magnate Thomas Lowry bought it in 1911, it became the Angus and kept that name until its closing in 1971.
In its heyday, the Blair Flats was the first stop of the westbound Selby Avenue streetcar. As such, it was a desirable corner for businesses and there was a time in the late 19th century when many prosperous people lived in its residential hotels – the most famous of which was the Aberdeen.
This once-fashionable neighborhood developed pockets of decay; and houses that had once been mansions could be had for a dollar. The Angus, once a symbol of prosperity, became a reproachful reminder of a seemingly irretrievable past. A visitor in the early 1970’s would have seen a grimy hulk awaiting the wrecking ball. But the success of W.A. Frost across the street, and the early stirrings of preservation and gentrification, brought a different destiny.
The Angus reopened in 1985 as a mixed-use complex of apartments, offices, and retail and remains so today. The best place to get a sense of the original interior is in the basement, where you will find graceful brick arches and the foundation stones of Platteville limestone, St. Paul’s original building material. The exterior has been beautifully restored.
The Angus has done the full circle as a neighborhood symbol – first of growth, decline, and rebirth.
I work on the bottom floor of the Blair Arcade. When I need a break from work, I walk the halls. In just a short stroll, the Blair Arcade provides a dose of perspective that is hard to beat. Maybe this is why I have so many pictures of the Blair, inside and out.
Update: I’ve been working from home since early February 2020, which– wow. How time slips away...
As much as I disliked coming into the office then, I miss it now. Parts of it anyway. It made for a concrete reason to bike 20 miles every day, whether I liked it or not. Also, I realize now, I appreciate meeting and talking with people. Even if I still prefer to stay home. Who knew?
And if it weren’t for work, I never would have explored the Blair Arcade with such casual regularity. There are these spaces I discovered frequently. I admired their striking symmetry to the world, a cohesive equation that seemed to suss logic and even meaning from the day-to-day routine of a lousy-ass job.
If only for a moment, the world would arrange itself into a linear bouquet, and makes some semblance of sense.
I love it all. And I miss it all. I look forward to not wanting to be in these spaces again. Of having to drag myself out of bed at ungodly hours, rain or snow, and go out and encounter people. I both recoil at the thought of it, and find myself looking back fondly for the old style.
I’m always catching myself in symmetrical spaces, or beautifully minimal scenes. One minute, I’m going along, and the next I look around and realize things are lining up! It’s especially these times I sure hope to have my camera with me (it’s not the easiest thing to lug around). In the meantime, I’m still keeping an eye out for little vignettes, and a good reminder that, even though everything might seem up in the air, there’s no shortage of the things that can take my breath away—I just have to be ready for them.