The Wesley Temple building (West Grant Street, between S. 1st and 2nd avenues), built by the adjacent church with the same name, was finished in 1928 — except it was really never finished.
It had a chaotic birth. The plans seemed to be revised constantly. In 1925, the church announced it would build a nine-story tower; in 1926, it would be 10 stories. In 1928, the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune ran an astonishing picture (inset) of a massive complex with two 12-story towers flanking a 22-story tower, topped with a riot of Gothic ornamentation.
It would be a medical center, as well as a church, with a grand new auditorium. One tower was finished in 1928, and the Depression nixed the rest. It hosted the facilities of WRHM, which could've meant Wesley Radio Holy Moley, perhaps, since the station ran religious programming along with music. (The call sign departed for another town long ago.)
The tower was demolished in 1986, one of several substantial office buildings lost to progress in the '70s and '80s. It would have made a handsome hotel or residence if it had hung on; it would have been untouchable by urban renewal if the grand plan had been fulfilled. But it ended up one ordinary structure, and the city wanted to build a new convention center on the site. And so they did.
