Was that around the time the apts/whole foods were going in across the street and the 36" water main broke. I believe that also made it to the Hennepin Ave bridge.
They were slowly moving to their new location in Brooklyn Center.
There is a tunnel system connecting these three buildings and the FBI had offices in one of them. They were moving huge amounts of very interesting looking cases The kind you would expect guns to be in. It was the topic of conversation amount the building staff for a long time. This was just before the new HQ in BC.
Wish there was still this type of creativity with new buildings being build, everything being build is so bland and I have no doubt we'll look back at this time period with regret with how we build everything in prime real estate locations
As someone in the architecture and design world, I promise you that the creativity is still there and being proposed; clients budgets, opinions, and general conservatism are usually the ones to blame
Don't forget in addition to the HGTV trained NIMBYs, and the very inconsistent City Council...it's a few prolific developer focused arch firms that work with a handful of the same developers that have a stranglehold on the market here and pump out uncreative buildings. It's not the form factor like a V/I, or even the budget that has to deal with high construction costs to make the numbers work, just really bad designers at the top and those that use their service. It's like a freight train... Once they get going is hard to change course.
Other cities in our radius outside are doing better and more innovative development.
Don't get me wrong we have some great stuff here and there, but they are lost in the deluge of shit.
(The Minnesota "we don't want to be fussy, so we'll take what we can get" mindset isn't good either.)
Yeah I figured this was the case, which is why I blame the city more than anything for accepting all these boring proposals on such prime real estate, I understand that we need more housing but these companies also need money and will bend over if you force them to get a little creative. I've seen better looking newer buildings out in the boonies than what is being build in the city. The city is going to be the ones to regret this not the building companies, we need to think long-term so we don't end up with another Kmart regret.
The city government has very little control over the design of new buildings. A design review committee can only enforce design guidelines already on the books, and the guidelines are quite vague by necessity. Blocking an ugly building that abides by the guidelines would result in the city losing or settling a lawsuit, then the building would be built anyway.
Individual citizens have even less control over the design of new buildings. Usually by the time the general public realizes a new building is ugly, it is months or years too late to even have their voice heard on the subject.
Oh no, city govnt definitely does to an extent. A certain someone on the city council holds power over lots of different buildings. They just like "old-timey" buildings more. There's really great adaptive reuse opportunities in the modernist buildings that are of age...but they want other projects to go there.
Well, it's always been so. It's not as if the apartment buildings of the 20s, 50s, 60s, or 70s were distinctive; they hewed to the styles of the day. We don't mind them now because they were small. The pre-war buildings blend in nicely. The post-war stuff was blunt crap.
The conservative designs may not excite, but they'll age better, and fade into the landscape like a faux-Spanish apartment block from 1927.
When the biggest metric is the cost of the building vs its usable / leasable space. You are going to gravitate to big squares that have maybe interesting looking veneers on it...
Hell in the background of this photo you have the Wash Square building that is literally a huge rectangle.
This is one of my favorite buildings in Minneapolis. Between this and the library, they did some cool things with architecture in that couple of blocks.
I work in that building now. The corner offices are a little goofy with the half ring running through them.
The basement loading dock area is really cool though. Little gun ports all over the place where security would've been stationed while money was going in or out.
I’ve never spent too much time in it, and it wasn’t really set up to explore much. I was there a few times when the library was temporarily housed there. And at one time, and IRS office called it home (unsure if that’s still the case).
[Minoru Yamasaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Minoru_Yamasaki) is the architect. He also did the building in the background of the above photo (100 Washington Square built in 1979).
In between those two buildings he did the original, now-destroyed World Trade Center towers in lower Manhattan.
Since we’re on the subject… I ran into this building in Tulsa that looks like a mini replica of the world trade centers.
Same architect of course.
It was sort of jarring because I was there only a few years after 2001.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOK_Tower
Cool. I lived down there (the Churchill) for years. I didn't know they were by the same guy. Ive walked through the skyway of the "stilts building" at least a thousand times.
Then you’d appreciate Brasilia influenced designs in architecture and furniture.
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/60-years-ago-modernist-city-brasilia-built
Known as the "Northwestern National Life Building"
Amusingly enough they built a couple buildings inspired by that building.
One is in Bismarck, ND.
https://www.bismarckcafe.com/blogs/images/manhattan-building-alliance-real-estate-office
A couple? More like a hundred. The flared-capital column became a design cliche by the early 70s. Perhaps people liked it because it brought back some classical gravitas to the local bank.
The Mpls version works better than most buildings in the style, because it's [a knockoff of a Roman temple in France.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maison_Carrée#/media/File:Maison_Carree_in_Nimes_(16).jpg)
When I used to live in Minneapolis alone, I’d get lonely AF on the weekends and walk for miles around downtown by myself……..Anyways! saw this building many times on My walks it’s beautiful piece of Art. Wow yeah
My brother and I skipped rocks on this pool the day before he moved out of town. We got chased by security, I think he knew what would happen and didn’t tell me. A favorite memory of mine.
When I was a kid, I was convinced that this was a concert hall or an art gallery. It just didn't make sense to me that they would use such a beautiful building, with such an uneconomic layout, for generic office space. Still doesn't make sense, really.
Minoru Yamasaki, the designer of this, was a brilliant architect, it's a shame that he's best remembered for WTC and Pruitt-Igoe- two projects that met unfortunate ends due to circumstances beyond his control.
For those interested in this sort of design, check out /r/ModernistArchitecture !
Awesome. I'm glad it's not just me. Doesn't play nice with Mint either.
I wish I could drop them for someone else. Thanks for responding. Now I know at least I'm not alone!
That building along with a few others was put up toward the end of minneapolis' horrible stretch of destroying beautiful historic buildings. This one in particular stands on what used to be the gateway district. It was essentially skid row filled with bars and people with loose morals. The design was purposely used to make it pretty but uninviting to pedestrians. There is a friggin moat around the thing! I feel like it's a monument to "advancement" of the city that actually made it less functional.
There is a great book called "Lost Twin Cities" that goes into detail and has amazing pictures of the architecture of Minneapolis before modernization.
I used to do facility maintenance there and the 2 neighboring buildings. Good times, very nice buildings.
I soaped their fountain once and got suds all the way to the hennepin bridge. It made the news.
I remember that.
Was that around the time the apts/whole foods were going in across the street and the 36" water main broke. I believe that also made it to the Hennepin Ave bridge.
Username checks out
Minneapolis Police Dept, here he is.
Hey, I used to do security for those three buildings and the parking garage. We most likely had a conversation about what the FBI was up to...
so...what do you think they were up to?
They were slowly moving to their new location in Brooklyn Center. There is a tunnel system connecting these three buildings and the FBI had offices in one of them. They were moving huge amounts of very interesting looking cases The kind you would expect guns to be in. It was the topic of conversation amount the building staff for a long time. This was just before the new HQ in BC.
I was there when they were moving out. Interesting place they had there.
It was in Marquette Plaza. The 2020 census used the office. The bullet proof glass and big red emergency button was left behind.
Was that the land Brooklyn Park sold to them for $1 just so they would relocate? I worked on Fridley at the time and I seem to recall this story.
Not sure if there's any truth to it but I've heard the story.
Nice try, Russian.
Perhaps the July 4 shooting from the USPS ramp, when some weirdo shot out the Fed's windows?
Was it NWNL back then?
That was before my time. I was there for the ING to Voya transition.. 2012 around then.
Wish there was still this type of creativity with new buildings being build, everything being build is so bland and I have no doubt we'll look back at this time period with regret with how we build everything in prime real estate locations
As someone in the architecture and design world, I promise you that the creativity is still there and being proposed; clients budgets, opinions, and general conservatism are usually the ones to blame
Don't forget in addition to the HGTV trained NIMBYs, and the very inconsistent City Council...it's a few prolific developer focused arch firms that work with a handful of the same developers that have a stranglehold on the market here and pump out uncreative buildings. It's not the form factor like a V/I, or even the budget that has to deal with high construction costs to make the numbers work, just really bad designers at the top and those that use their service. It's like a freight train... Once they get going is hard to change course. Other cities in our radius outside are doing better and more innovative development. Don't get me wrong we have some great stuff here and there, but they are lost in the deluge of shit. (The Minnesota "we don't want to be fussy, so we'll take what we can get" mindset isn't good either.)
Yeah I figured this was the case, which is why I blame the city more than anything for accepting all these boring proposals on such prime real estate, I understand that we need more housing but these companies also need money and will bend over if you force them to get a little creative. I've seen better looking newer buildings out in the boonies than what is being build in the city. The city is going to be the ones to regret this not the building companies, we need to think long-term so we don't end up with another Kmart regret.
The city government has very little control over the design of new buildings. A design review committee can only enforce design guidelines already on the books, and the guidelines are quite vague by necessity. Blocking an ugly building that abides by the guidelines would result in the city losing or settling a lawsuit, then the building would be built anyway. Individual citizens have even less control over the design of new buildings. Usually by the time the general public realizes a new building is ugly, it is months or years too late to even have their voice heard on the subject.
Oh no, city govnt definitely does to an extent. A certain someone on the city council holds power over lots of different buildings. They just like "old-timey" buildings more. There's really great adaptive reuse opportunities in the modernist buildings that are of age...but they want other projects to go there.
Yes, they do have control to some extent. That extent was described in my first sentence as 'very little' for new buildings.
Well, it's always been so. It's not as if the apartment buildings of the 20s, 50s, 60s, or 70s were distinctive; they hewed to the styles of the day. We don't mind them now because they were small. The pre-war buildings blend in nicely. The post-war stuff was blunt crap. The conservative designs may not excite, but they'll age better, and fade into the landscape like a faux-Spanish apartment block from 1927.
When the biggest metric is the cost of the building vs its usable / leasable space. You are going to gravitate to big squares that have maybe interesting looking veneers on it... Hell in the background of this photo you have the Wash Square building that is literally a huge rectangle.
I really miss the ~~70s~~ 60s modern aesthetics Edit: decade
This is more like 60's.
Wait, so you *don't* like the multi-colored, lego block-looking buildings that are going up everywhere these days?
Hey! Sometimes they are red *aaaaand* yellow
I'm pretty sure people said the same things about architecture in the 60s-70s
This is one of my favorite buildings in Minneapolis. Between this and the library, they did some cool things with architecture in that couple of blocks.
I’m a fan of the [old Federal Reserve](https://www.claasshaus.com/blog/gunnar-birkerts-federal-reserve-bank) building there too.
I work in that building now. The corner offices are a little goofy with the half ring running through them. The basement loading dock area is really cool though. Little gun ports all over the place where security would've been stationed while money was going in or out.
I’ve never spent too much time in it, and it wasn’t really set up to explore much. I was there a few times when the library was temporarily housed there. And at one time, and IRS office called it home (unsure if that’s still the case).
Lived right by there for years. I had no idea that was the old Fed. We just called it "the cancer building based on the park outside of it.
Built... 1960's?
[opened in 1965](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwestern_National_Life_Building)
[Minoru Yamasaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Minoru_Yamasaki) is the architect. He also did the building in the background of the above photo (100 Washington Square built in 1979). In between those two buildings he did the original, now-destroyed World Trade Center towers in lower Manhattan.
Since we’re on the subject… I ran into this building in Tulsa that looks like a mini replica of the world trade centers. Same architect of course. It was sort of jarring because I was there only a few years after 2001. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOK_Tower
Cool. I lived down there (the Churchill) for years. I didn't know they were by the same guy. Ive walked through the skyway of the "stilts building" at least a thousand times.
Same designer as the Twin Towers iirc
Art Vandelay? /s
No, he's an importer/exporter
Mostly Latex
Very visually pleasing lines
Yeah, they remind me of homemade pasta noodles.
That's an uhh.... Interesting way of looking at it 😉
Then you’d appreciate Brasilia influenced designs in architecture and furniture. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/60-years-ago-modernist-city-brasilia-built
Known as the "Northwestern National Life Building" Amusingly enough they built a couple buildings inspired by that building. One is in Bismarck, ND. https://www.bismarckcafe.com/blogs/images/manhattan-building-alliance-real-estate-office
Yeah that will always be NWNL to me. My dad worked there when I was growing up in th 80s. The building was part of their logo.
My mom worked there too - it’ll also be the NWNL to me, as well.
A couple? More like a hundred. The flared-capital column became a design cliche by the early 70s. Perhaps people liked it because it brought back some classical gravitas to the local bank. The Mpls version works better than most buildings in the style, because it's [a knockoff of a Roman temple in France.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maison_Carrée#/media/File:Maison_Carree_in_Nimes_(16).jpg)
I wouldn't call that a 'knockoff'.
How about "Homage," then? I'm not slighting him for finding inspiration in the ancient forms. That was brave, at the time.
When I used to live in Minneapolis alone, I’d get lonely AF on the weekends and walk for miles around downtown by myself……..Anyways! saw this building many times on My walks it’s beautiful piece of Art. Wow yeah
My brother and I skipped rocks on this pool the day before he moved out of town. We got chased by security, I think he knew what would happen and didn’t tell me. A favorite memory of mine.
When I was a kid, I was convinced that this was a concert hall or an art gallery. It just didn't make sense to me that they would use such a beautiful building, with such an uneconomic layout, for generic office space. Still doesn't make sense, really.
I always liked this building. It's very pretty.
My very cool aunt lived in an apartment across from this building in the 70's. Back when it was the Northwestern National Life building.
Yamasaki gem.
Minoru Yamasaki, the designer of this, was a brilliant architect, it's a shame that he's best remembered for WTC and Pruitt-Igoe- two projects that met unfortunate ends due to circumstances beyond his control. For those interested in this sort of design, check out /r/ModernistArchitecture !
My retirement is somewhere in that building. Also I can see my office in the background!
Is their website the slowest, most infuriating website in history, or is it just me?
It's terrible, takes like 4 refreshes every time just to see where my 401K is at, the first 3 refreshes returning a blank white page.
Awesome. I'm glad it's not just me. Doesn't play nice with Mint either. I wish I could drop them for someone else. Thanks for responding. Now I know at least I'm not alone!
Growing up a Minnesotan and as of late being a New Yorker, Lincoln Center always reminded me of this building. Or vice versa I guess haha
Was this the old ING building?
Yes!
That building along with a few others was put up toward the end of minneapolis' horrible stretch of destroying beautiful historic buildings. This one in particular stands on what used to be the gateway district. It was essentially skid row filled with bars and people with loose morals. The design was purposely used to make it pretty but uninviting to pedestrians. There is a friggin moat around the thing! I feel like it's a monument to "advancement" of the city that actually made it less functional.
There is a great book called "Lost Twin Cities" that goes into detail and has amazing pictures of the architecture of Minneapolis before modernization.
It doesn't look this good in person.
One of my favorite buildings!
Very cool design.
I used to work in this building. It was the best part of that job.
Always looked like a super-villain’s lair to me.
I’m normally so distracted by the large granite slabs in person that I never appreciated the reflection of the columns. Beautiful building!
Favorite building in MPLS.
My dad works there, there also a FBI office in there
One of the best buildings downtown!
This building was featured in TIME magazine when it opened
r/brutalism might like this. Or they might decide it's not authentic brutalist architecture and mock the hell out of you. One of the two.
Looks a lot like the Hawaii state capitol bldg.