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Mandels’ Furs. This was taken from a mid-70s guide to Fargo’s architectural history; photographer unknown. According to the guide, the large building was constructed in 1904 as the office for the city’s notable architects, the Hancock Brothers. According to fargo-history.com, it housed W. O. Olsen’s Furniture in 1906, which perhaps suggests the Hancocks had moved on, or more likely rented out the bottom floor. Not a lot of call for drop-in / while-U-wait architectural drafting, after all.
Like most of downtown Fargo, it's been rehabbed to look better than ever. But I do wish they'd kept a few of these metal storefronts. They were part of downtown history, after all - an in a few cases may have been the building's public face for decades. When they took the mask off, no one knew who it was.
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