Designed by Charles Frost and built in 1898, the Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis features one of the few surviving long-span, truss-roofed sheds in America. The building was abandoned in 1978 and since that time numerous attempts have been made to find an adaptive reuse program for the 90,000 sq. ft. space comprised of the historic head house and shed space of the depot. The successful proposal was a collaboration between Shea, a Minneapolis-based marketing and design firm: CSM Corporation, the client and developer; Elness Swenson Graham Architects (ESG); and the city.

The program called for renovating the depot and preserving it as fully as possible as a local landmark. Another requirement was to create rentable space for public and private functions. Lastly, the project scope included bringing new hotel facilities to the downtown Minneapolis site. All these requirements were to help revitalize and serve the under-utilized river-front area.

Conrad Schmitt Studios of New Berlin, Wisconsin, played a huge role in the restoration of the interiors, which re-created the ornate appearane of the original Turn-of-the Century depot. The Studios had taken an interest in the project five years earlier, and had tracked it through more than one owner before being hired for the project by CSM. Stenciling, gilding, and glazing in a palette based on historical precedents, were used on the walls and ceilings of the terminal and intricate plasterwork was also restored and painted.

When the exterior "cleanup" was completed in 1997, Shea approached CSM with the idea of turning the train shed into an ice rink. Further proposals to incorporate two new Marriott hotels into the complex led to commissioning ESG. Shea was charged with Master-planning the site and the conceptual design of the hotels, as well as restoration of the depot's head house and train shed.

Completed in summer 2001, the Milwaukee Road Depot multi-use facility has successfully contributed to the ongoing redevelopment of the Mississippi riverfront and the vitality of downtown Minneapolis. An urban-design project that has earned an AIA Minnesota 2001 Honor Award, the collaboration of architects, contractors, interior designers, conservationists, and consultants of every stripe has produced what the AIA jurors called "a dynamic urban amenity."

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"...great care was taken to ensure that the designs of the new additions did not overwhelm the historic depot. The heights of the new buildings are lower than the depot and the architectural details and materials complement the existing building."

"In the adaptation of the depot into a hotel, the original appearance of the exterior was retained. The distinctive clock tower, with its enormous Milwaukee Road signs, was preserved and is once again in working order."

"The train shed, now enclosed with a curtain wall by Empirehouse, Inc., of Minneapolis, houses a public ice rink. This design solution preserves the 625-ft-long truss-roofed structure."

"Conrad Schmitt Studios employed numerous decorative techniques to restore the interior of the passenger terminal. The recessed areas of the brackets were marbleized to match the marble of the wall cartouches, the acanthus leaves and other decorative highlights were gilded, and a period stenciled border was applied to each coffer in the 30-ft ceiling."

"Painted accents, once lost, have been returned to highlight the ornate architectural details of the passenger terminal. A soft palette ties the glazed terra cotta, wood, plaster and marble surfaces together to create an inviting space."

"Abandoned for more than 20 years, the Milwaukee Road Depot building had fallen into disrepair. The roof of the train shed had rotted through, and the building languished as restoration ideas came and went. Still, the brick cladding remained in good condiion, and the distinctive design of the building, combined with the romance of its railroad history, kept people thinking about what could be done."

Article featured in the July/August 2002 issue of Traditional Building Magazine. Writer is Henrika Taylor