I'm really not sure what this building was but I can't help but think it was a school of some kind. It just has that size, shape and proximity to the street. Then again looking at the windows, it could have possibly been a senior home or apartment building. Regardless, this building has always caught my attention every time we visit my wife's relatives in Lester Prairie, MN. Apart from it's massive size and peeling red paint, the most interesting part of the building is it's elegant rooftop with various sized gables facing different directions. How I'd love to explore the upper portion of this building!
I can understand why the first floor windows are boarded up but not sure why they skipped the second floor in favor of the very top. Maybe those windows were already broken out? If anyone has any information about this building I'd love to hear about it. I believe it's located on either Oak or Maple Street in Lester Prairie.
I'm really not sure what this building was but I can't help but think it was a school of some kind. It just has that size, shape and proximity to the street. Then again looking at the windows, it could have possibly been a senior home or apartment building. Regardless, this building has always caught my attention every time we visit my wife's relatives in Lester Prairie, MN. Apart from it's massive size and peeling red paint, the most interesting part of the building is it's elegant rooftop with various sized gables facing different directions. How I'd love to explore the upper portion of this building! 
I can understand why the first floor windows are boarded up but not sure why they skipped the second floor in favor of the very top. Maybe those windows were already broken out? If anyone has any information about this building I'd love to hear about it. I believe it's located on either Oak or Maple Street in Lester Prairie.
Hey:
ReplyDeleteI live in one of the nearby towns.
Here's an article about the building:
http://www.herald-journal.com/Archives/2006/stories/hotel.html
just copy and paste that website.
I grew up in Lester Prairie and my dad owned this building at one point. It began as a hotel. When he owned it, residents from state mental hospitals that had been shut down lived there. Eventually, the building did not meet heath codes for these elderly and handicapped people. A family bought it and lived there for years. I moved away, but I have heard that it has been knocked down. The name of the rest home was The Alice Haney Home.
ReplyDeleteThe building housed the Klatt Hotel, which was built by my grandparents, uncles and aunts in 1910. It had 23 bedrooms. In 1946, my aunts sold the hotel to Mrs. Theodore Spellum of Glencoe, who operated the Alice Haney Nursing Home for many years. I have no idea who owns the property today.
ReplyDeleteMy great-grandmother was Alice Haney whom this building was named after. Her daughter (my grandmother) Ada Spellum, along with her son, purchased the building where it became a nursing home. The would have the most wonderful Christmas parties for the residents there!
ReplyDeleteThe house was burned down in 2015 for firemans training
ReplyDelete