March 30, 2020
The Laurel 40 Fireplace Restoration
The Laurel Apartments are an example of Queen Anne architecture
The Laurel Apartments were constructed in 1893 as a premier apartment house in Minneapolis’s desirable Loring Park neighborhood. The building also represents the work of Septimus J. Bowler, a London native who arrived in Minneapolis in 1884 and established his own architecture firm around 1888. The Laurel Apartments was the height of his residential work and demonstrates the opulence of Queen Anne architecture in Minneapolis before the Panic of 1893. The Laurel Apartment features highly sophisticated facades composed of a variety of rectangular, arched, and demilune windows trimmed with rusticated sandstone details; decorative brick parapets with arched corbelling; and stepped parapets at the chimney stacks, which are articulated externally by vertical brick coursing. Interior details include tiled building entrances; fireplaces with ornate surrounds and tiled hearths; and oak and cherry parquet floors. When it opened, the property was described by the Minneapolis Tribune as “the most elegant flat building yet erected in this city,” and one “which will add largely to this class of accommodations.” United States Department of the Interior
