Cornwall Building

A. Friederich & Sons built some of the structures that make up the modern glass covered Gateway Building.

In 1904, a huge fire known as the Sibley fire leveled almost the entire block on the north side of Main Street between St. Paul Street and Clinton Avenue. After the debris was cleared, reconstruction of that prime real estate was started almost immediately.

In 1905, A Friederich & Sons built the 5-story Cornwall Building at 156 Main Street which eventually housed a number of stores and businesses. Sometime between 1910 and 1935, E.W. Edwards & Son purchased the Cornwall Building and the neighboring 7-story Central Building at 158 Main Street. Another 2 stories were added to the Cornwall building making it the same height as the adjoining Central Building to its right. The two buildings together became the Edwards Store along Main Street. It is likely that A. Friederich & Sons added the 2 stories as well as the connecting structure to the Edwards Building directly behind it on St. Paul Street. Sometime after Edwards closed in 1972, the two buildings were rennovated, combined and covered in glass to make what is now the Gateway Building.

If you look closely at my picture of the Gateway Building, you can see the white brick facade of the Cornwall building still there behind the glass curtain wall that was applied over the top. Unfortunately, any protruding architectural features were brutally ripped from the old facade to create a flat surface for the new glass covering.