Black Building (Fargo, North Dakota)
Architecture
The Black Building is in Art Moderne style. At eight stories tall, it was the tallest in the district. "Faced with Indiana limestone, it also deviates from the predominant brick in the district. The Black building was the work of Lang, Raugland, and Lewis of Minneapolis with Ole A. Braseth and S. Marius Houkom, consulting Fargo architects. Oscar Lang (1880-1960) and his partners designed the Art Moderne Greyhound bus depot (1936-7) in Minneapolis, the library at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and a series of churches, schools, and commercial buildings in Minnesota.*9 The Black building (#8) may have inspired the Art Moderne refacing and reconstruction by Braseth and Houkom in 1940 of two other buildings on Broadway: (#38) the Gate City Block at 71-3 and (#33) the building at 202-204 in warm cream-colored ashlar."
History
Norman B. Black, a leading North Dakota businessman and newspaper publisher arrived in North Dakota in 1905, where he became manager of the Grand Forks Herald and the Evening Times, until he purchased the Fargo Forum in 1917. In addition to publishing the Forum, Black, in 1920, became president of the Minot Daily News. His influence grew through the newspaper business and Black served two terms as president of the North Dakota Press Association. The Black building (#8) at 114-18 Broadway was erected by and named for him."
The building was purchased in 2015. There was a municipal bond issue failure associated with the building.
References
- ^ "What North Dakota Properties are listed? - National Register of Historic Places - Historic Preservation - State Historical Society of North Dakota".
- ^ Norene A. Roberts (December 4, 1982). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Downtown Fargo District". National Park Service. and Accompanying 26 photos, from 1982
- ^ Patrick Springer (September 11, 2015). "Kilbourne Group buys historic Black Building in downtown Fargo". inforum.
- ^ "NDSU page on it".