Minneapolis Warehouse District, Home Insurance Company Building, Hennepin Avenue at North First Street, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, MN

Significance: The Home Insurance Company Building was built in late 1894 and early 1895 as a venture by New York investors, who held the building until 1905. The building's best known and major tenant in the early years was Northrup, King and Company who purchased the building in 1905. The company moved to new quarters in 1917, maintaining a retail store in the building, and sold the Home Insurance Company Building in 1922 to Northwestern Drug Company. The Home Insurance Company Building was the fourth building that was occupied by Northrup, King and company on the block facing Hennepin Avenue. Since 1964, the building has been known as the Berman Buckskin Company building. It was listed as a contributing building when the Minneapolis Warehouse Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 1989. The Minneapolis Warehouse Historic District nomination notes that the Home Insurance Company Building features a facade "designed in a commercial version of the Queen Anne Style." The style may be more properly described as Richardsonian. In terms of its mass, the building is one of the larger buildings at the east end of the district. It appears to have been an in-house design by the H.N. Leighton Company, the local construction company that built it. When it appeared that more space was needed during construction, a fifth floor was added.
Survey number: HABS MN-110-V
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 89001937