The structure's primary facades face the streets to the north and west, and have entrance bays flanked by commercial display window bays at the pedestrial level and vertical window shafts separated by limestone piers between the second and thirteenth stories.

Above the doors and cases is a band of cresting with a center metal plaque reading "MINNESOTA BUILDING".

The top of the entry recess is framed with decorative cream-colored terra cotta, which continues along the ceiling.

Simple raised edge banding occurs in stone between the eleventh and twelfth stories.

The spandrels between the buildings windows were cast in a geometric pattern and set flush with the piers, spreading the checkered motif downward across the entire facade.

[3] The secondary facades, facing east and south internally in the block, are defined by similar window placement, but with concrete floor banding between floors and common brick infill between windows; these facades also display "MINNESOTA BLDG."

The windows on the upper floors of the southern facade were altered in the latter quarter of the twentieth century to improve views of the Mississippi River.

[3] The state capital, St. Paul was most prosperous during the late 1800s and early 1900s, much of its downtown development occurred during that period.

[4] The Minnesota Building was the idea of a consortium of developers interested in creating a higher business density in downtown.

Finished on November 1, 1929, the building cost an estimated $970,000, and was designed mainly for office suites for upscale business.

Born in St. Paul in 1879, he apprenticed in Chicago with Louis Sullivan before returning to Minnesota being licensed in 1908.