Constructed by the Fargo firm of George and Walter B. Hancock, this is one of the more elaborate examples of Classical Revival design
in downtown. Brick rustication emphasizes the lower floors and banded upper story, and brick quoins accentuate the corners. A foliated metal frieze balances the egg-and-dart trim atop the corner piers, and leaded stained glass transoms are above the large display windows. The heavily bracketed, pressed-metal cornice was likely produced by the Fargo Ornamental Iron and Metal Cornice Company. A stone balustrade with ornamental urns marks the entrance to what was once a grand interior lobby of an elegant travelers’ hotel. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Robert LaFollette, William Jennings Bryant, Charlie Chaplin, Will Rogers, and Jack Dempsey are among the people who stayed here. Recent residential occupancy has altered the building’s elegant interior, but the exterior has remained pristine and generally unaltered.