Digital Division
500 & 502 Division St
Holland Block
est. 1884
In 1884, Edward Holland oversaw construction of what has remained one of the largest buildings in Northfield’s historic downtown: the Holland Block. Its 1884 timestamp makes it the second-oldest remaining building on Division Street’s 500 Block, and the oldest on its West side. In the twenty-five years that followed, four buildings that carried a similar cadence to this one were subsequently built to the Holland Block’s south. This was part of the second major period of commercial development in the downtown, considered to last from about 1880 to 1900. Much of the architecture from this time—the Holland Block included—is built in the Queen Anne style. Notable examples include the Hamre Building, Central Block, and Northfield News Building. On this building, this popular late-19th-century style is visible mostly by way of the decorative brick corbels below the roofline.
As Northfield grew around it, business in the Holland Block thrived.
As Northfield grew around it, business in the Holland Block thrived. Ed Holland turned its upper floor into a hotel, and leased the ground floor retail space to several entrepreneurial sellers over the years. He made expansive sewer and water system improvements in 1898, the same year he decided to open up an opera house in the basement. The Odd Fellows moved into the upper floor in 1924, where they stayed for decades.
Heartwork Yoga Studio has been in the lower floor for years now
Meanwhile, the ground floor storefront also saw some prominent developments. The Reviers, some of the first meat vendors in the town of Northfield, had their store here in the 1920s and 30s. Christy’s Provision Mart was here, owned by the Christophersons for thirty years before being sold to Albert J Thomas and his son in 1961. It expanded into the building’s north side in 1951, and the 500 and 502 addresses within the Holland Block were for a long period unified. Through the occupancies of Big Wheel Auto Store and DeGrood’s Appliance Store, this remained true. Today, the building is again split, held by the Northfield branch of Weichert Realtors in the north half and the Lux Med Spa in the south.