Most guests who settle into a furnished studio at Oaklands on 9th have no idea the walls around them are more than 130 years old. The building at 215 South 9th Street in downtown Minneapolis has been luxury apartments, a working-class hotel, an abandoned shell open to the sky, and — today — a restored place to stay. It’s a remarkable arc for one address, so here’s the whole story.
An 1889 Brownstone by Harry Wild Jones
The Oaklands began in 1889. Owner W.P. Burnett pulled the building permit on June 20 of that year, with plans for a three-story brick apartment house fronted in brownstone, at a cost of about $20,000. The architect was Harry Wild Jones — one of early Minneapolis’s most prolific designers, the man behind the Lakewood Cemetery Chapel, the Washburn Park Water Tower, and dozens of other landmarks. His work is woven into the city’s fabric; the City of Minneapolis even protects his own Washburn Park home as a local landmark. Look closely at the Oaklands today and you’ll still find his signature, preserved on the entry mat.
When it opened, the Oaklands was billed as luxury living — “grand suites” with comforts that were genuinely modern for 1889. You can read more about the architect’s life and influence through the Minnesota Historical Society’s MNopedia, which draws on Elizabeth Vandam’s definitive biography of Jones.
From Grand Suites to the Delta Hotel
The luxury era didn’t last. As Thomas Lowry’s streetcar network expanded across the city, families gained the freedom to live farther from the center — and downtown apartment houses like the Oaklands lost their well-heeled tenants. In short order it became the Delta Hotel, settling into a long middle life as a more modest residential hotel.
In 1960, owner Erwin Sego pulled a permit to convert the hotel into 18 apartments and six sleeping rooms, for about $10,000 — and that reworking is essentially the floor plan many of today’s studios still echo. The building kept absorbing the decades, scars and all: a basement fire in the 1970s left a mark you can still see on one old door.
Abandoned, Roofless, and Nearly Lost
Then came the hard chapter. A 2016 fire gutted the Oaklands and left it a burned-out shell. For three winters it stood roofless and open to the weather — the grand staircase rained and snowed on, the basement standing in water, the old boiler destroyed by the freezing cold. The building landed on Minnesota’s “most endangered” preservation lists, rated among the most endangered structures in the state both before and after the fire.
That it survived at all came down to a mix of City prioritization and a determined grassroots movement. Minneapolis City Council Member Lisa Goodman is widely credited with keeping the Oaklands from the wrecking ball — the same advocate who helped rescue our sister property, the historic 300 Clifton mansion in Loring Park. Without that effort, this corner of downtown would look very different today.
Reborn in 2019
Restoration began in the spring of 2019 — only the third renovation in the building’s 130-year history. Crews restored all 65 windows, re-pointed the brick with thousands of pounds of custom-mixed lime mortar matched to the original, and pieced the grand staircase back together after its years in the open. If you love the workshop details, our post on how Oaklands on 9th was restored goes deep, and you can spot many of the original 1889 details that survived throughout the building.
In June 2022, neighbors gathered in the garden to unveil a historic designation plaque — a marker you can still find there today, quietly celebrating everything the building has weathered.
Stay in the Story
Today the Oaklands is a collection of fully furnished, month-to-month studios with real kitchens, fast WiFi, free laundry, and all utilities included — a night, a week, or a month, no contracts. It’s an easy walk to the Skyway, Target Field, US Bank Stadium, and Orchestra Hall, and a short trip from HCMC and the U of M Medical Center. If you’re the kind of traveler who likes a little history with your home base, you can even tour more of the city’s grand old buildings with Minneapolis Trolley Tours — and plan the rest of your visit through Meet Minneapolis.
Keep reading: Once you’ve settled in, see what to do in downtown Minneapolis this summer — Twins games, riverfront walks, and free music, all within walking distance.
Want to sleep inside 130 years of Minneapolis history? Check availability and book online, or give us a call at (612) 314-5124. We’d love to host you.