Harry T. Downs was born in St. Peter, Minnesota on March 16, 1868. He was the son of a well-known settler of the area, Thomas Downs. In 1883 he moved to Minneapolis and attended the public schools, then entered the architectural practice of Fremont Orff. Within a few years he moved on to the office of prominent local architects Long & Kees where he worked from 1889 to 1894. He maintained a private practice until 1905 when he and Harold H. Eads formed a partnership that lasted until illness forced Downs to leave the office in 1928 and move to Tacoma, Washington. He died there on January 5, 1929.

Harold Eads was born in Champaign, Illinois, on August 18, 1872. He was educated in the Minneapolis public schools and at the University of Minnesota (1892). He was in partnership with Harry Downs from 1905 to 1928, and afterward continued a private practice for several years. Eads died in Minneapolis on May 21, 1936.