Every studio at Oaklands on 9th comes with a full kitchen — a real one, with a cooktop, a fridge, and room to actually cook. Guests are often surprised to find that in a brownstone built in 1889. The explanation isn’t a modern remodel. It’s a single sheet of paper from 1960: a City of Minneapolis building permit, estimated cost $10,000, that quietly decided what this building would be for the next sixty-plus years.
Built in 1889, Undone by the Streetcar
The Oaklands began with a permit, too. On June 20, 1889, owner W.P. Burnett filed to build a three-story brick apartment house with a brownstone front at a cost of $20,000 — remembered as Minneapolis’s first apartment building, and by the accounts passed down, luxury living for its day. The architect was Harry Wild Jones, one of the city’s great under-appreciated designers.
The luxury era didn’t last. As the streetcar system consolidated and boomed under Thomas Lowry, families who once wanted grand suites downtown could suddenly live farther out and ride in. That was the death knell for the Oaklands as luxury apartments, and in short order the building became the Delta Hotel. The streetcars are long gone, but living downtown without a car is still easy — Metro Transit runs right through our neighborhood. And if streetcar-era history is your thing, our sister company Minneapolis Trolley Tours tells these stories from an actual trolley.
The $10,000 Permit of 1960
A photograph from 1959 shows downtown Minneapolis at dusk, with the Foshay Tower — then still the king of the skyline, and our neighbor a few blocks up 9th Street — front and center, and the Oaklands visible under the arrow. It was taken right at the moment the building was about to change again.
The documentary record is the permit that followed in 1960. Owner Erwin Sego filed to convert the aging hotel at 213–15 South 9th Street into 18 apartments and 6 sleeping rooms, at an estimated cost of $10,000. Kitchens and bathrooms were added throughout the building — and here’s the remarkable part: the layout the Oaklands has today is essentially the same as the one drawn up then. When you stand in your studio, you’re standing in a floor plan from 1960 inside walls from 1889.
Why That Still Matters When You Book a Studio
The Oaklands has been through only three major renovations in its long life: 1889, 1960, and the full restoration finished in 2019. The 2019 project — after fire and near-demolition — kept the 1960 bones and rebuilt everything inside them: induction cooktops, modern bathrooms, per-studio heating and cooling. In many kitchens, the backsplash and shelves are built from the building’s own reclaimed oak flooring, so the newest layer of the building is literally made from the oldest. Today the building holds a historic designation, with the marker sitting in our garden.
That 1960 decision is why a stay here works the way it does. A full kitchen is the difference between a hotel room and a home — which is exactly why our furnished studios work for a night, a week, or a month with no lease. You can see everything that comes with a stay in What’s Included in a Furnished Studio, and read the near-death chapter of this story in The 1883 Brick Sewer Under 9th Street.
Come Cook in a Piece of Minneapolis History
Every studio at Oaklands on 9th — Good, Better, or Best — has its own full kitchen, with WiFi, all utilities, and free laundry included, in a walkable spot at 215 South 9th Street in downtown Minneapolis. Check availability and book your studio, or call us at (612) 314-5124. And if it’s a historic stay you’re after but a mansion is more your speed, our sister property 300 Clifton is a restored mansion just south of downtown.
Keep reading: the Savannah Bananas hit Target Field this weekend — here’s how to walk to sold-out Banana Ball from a downtown studio (and plan for 2027).