In 1887 , the Great Northern 's first company headquarters building was constructed in St. Paul . It was designed by James Brodie , who also built the Hill 's house on Summit Avenue . The 1887 building was converted between 2000 and 2004 to a 53 unit condo in the Historic Lowertown District of St. Paul . Hill had seen the devastation done downtown by the Great Chicago Fire . As a result , one feature Hill integrated into the construction of the 1887 company headquarters ( the Great Northern General Office Building ) was barrel vaulted ceilings constructed of brick and railroad steel rails that held up a layer of sand several inches deep . The theory was that if a fire broke out and the ceiling caved in , the sand would drop and retard or suppress the fire
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
James J. Hill